


A Princess Scorched

by crownhearted



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dragonverse, F/M, Fireverse, Post-Canon, light mentions of neglect and abuse, nothing super graphic, very brief mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:09:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3401204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownhearted/pseuds/crownhearted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Arendelle thaws, the sisters reunite, and all seems calm- one loose end had yet to be tied. Prince Hans awaited royal judgment and punishment in the dark dungeons of the castle, but when Anna came to rattle his bars for answers and truths, she found much more than she bargained for. Able to see a man inside a monster, this Princess' tenacity, determination, and big heart put her in harms way yet again to prove that love really doesn't conquer, it changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jailed

**Author's Note:**

> This is NOT a traditional work. This is a roleplay done on Tumblr that I've just been copypasting to a Word Document. I've decided to throw it up here because it's the first thing I've ever actually completed, and I wanted to contribute a lengthy, powerful chapter fic to this fandom. This was written over a year ago by two roleplay blogs. I (author) am Anna, and the Hans does not have an AO3 I can link to, but the old blog was "frozenheartburninghands". Please be considerate of the fact that this does not read like a traditional fanfic for such a reason. The "line breaks" that begin with a hyphen "-" indicate post change.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

After Elsa thawed the ice and snow from Arendelle’s surfaces, it was a solid day until the guests of the land could leave. Arrangements had to be made, ships had to be repaired and checked, but overall, most of the trade partners and visitors were setting sail within 48 hours.

Anna had done a lot of thinking since then; being elated with her sister wasn’t all she had to do. Not only did Hans lie - lie about  _everything_ \- but he tried to kill her  _and_ Elsa. The now-Queen didn’t understand it, when Anna requested to pay Hans a visit in the dungeons on the evening before his detainment ship was to set sail.

Escorted down, down, down, Anna requested to be left alone, and the guards marched back toward the entrance with a wary look on their faces, as Anna made the short rest of the walk toward Hans’ cell. Nobody was in here but the two of them, and Anna felt quite safe with him behind bars. Then again, she was always pretty naive.

"Evening," she said with little tone or expression, which was quite unlike her- but right now she was just trying to gather her thoughts.

-

Hans had his head resting against the wall as he sat, hands on his lap, shackled together. He lifted his eyes from the floor while he went to stare the princess down. What on earth was she doing here? Apparently the punch wasn’t enough. Then again, he had tried to kill her sister and left her to death. Hans had to roll his eyes, regardless.

"Is it? Can’t tell from way down here," he mused, head tilted slightly to the side. He gave the barest of smiles. Although, he really didn’t feel like smiling. The sooner the day passed, the sooner he’d be shipped on back to his family. Dear sweet family. He was just getting used to this cell, too. God only knew what they had in store for him back home.

This here was a blessing.

"But let’s cut to the chase, hm? What’s the occasion, princess? Why are you here? Missed my pretty face?"

-

The way he spoke to her only made her remember the evening they spent laughing and talking. Her cheeks flared at once, not for being a blushing little girl in his presence as she once was, but for her embarrassment at how far she’d let him in- how much she’d told him, trusted him, without even  _knowing_ him.

"Hardly." she swallowed and crossed her arms, looking at him long and hard before she spoke again. "I want to know…why." she didn’t expect the words to fall out of her own lips, and when they did, more tumbled after. "Why you- did all of that. What made you think it was the right thing to do. How does someone just become so- so-" by this point, Anna’s arms are uncrossed and her hands are searching the air, palms-up, as if trying to grab a word. " _Cold?_ " is finally all she can come up with, and her hands drop to her sides. She’d tried to keep up a stoic facade, but that melted in an instant.

-

Hans raised an eyebrow at her. He would almost laugh at her question - in fact, he did. And as he did, he pushed himself up onto his feet and stepped on towards the bars separating them. “Oh, I don’t know. How does someone stay so _naive_?”

He wasn’t about to tell her anything, the real story. But the way he gripped at those bars, he was glad his gloves filled with asbestos kept the heat from coming out and smoking them.

"I did what I did because I saw a chance and I wanted to take it. Of course, it backfired. So I’m accepting what is to become of me. What more do you want,  _Anna_? An apology? The only thing I’m sorry for is  _failing_.”

He wanted this to spring forth hatred. Maybe Anna would storm off and demand to Elsa he’d be executed here. He would much prefer that. Hans didn’t want to go home. If he could even call it that.

-

Anna did seem to deflate for a moment- but she picked herself right back up, seemed to fill her lungs with air and pride, and she carried on. She’d been practicing how to get back up all on her own for years, this was no different.

"You didn’t answer my question. People aren’t just  _born_ like this; you didn’t always act this way. What happened to you? If you’re capable of acting like- like the guy I  _thought_ I knew, then that means you’ve got even the tiniest shred of him left in there.” Anna was never one to give up hope, even when things seemed hopeless, and Hans was no exception. After overwhelming anger, loathing, fear, and hurt; now she had a chance to push it aside for a while and reflect.

She didn’t hate him, and a terrified part of her thought, while standing there and observing the man in his cell, that she could  _forgive_ him.

-

He tensed for a long moment while his jaw ticked, staring at her with narrowed eyes before he let go of the bars and stepped back. “It was all an act, Anna. And if you think I’m going to tell you my whole life’s story, you’re wrong. I have nothing to prove to you, to anyone. Not anymore! It doesn’t matter. I’ll be home and then I’ll be dead and that’s it.”

He snorted. “Your sister thinks she’s doing a mercy, sending me back home. If only you two weren’t so  _sheltered_.” Not that he was any better, but he did such a good job at faking it. Faking the perfect, charming prince. That was what his parents wanted, could pretend they had until he’d sometimes accidentally break that illusion with a puff of smoke and flame.

And then there was the water tank again.

"There’s nothing to say."

-

Anna immediately recoiled a little. “They’re going to  _kill you_ over there?” she asked, sharply, and then shook her head. “If that’s the case, I’ll tell them to keep you here.” her logical mind begged her to reason with the idea of his death- he did try to kill, so, it made sense that he got what he wanted to dish out, right?

 _Wrong,_ thought Anna, as she looked around the dungeon.  _I want him to learn from this, not die without a second chance._ "I didn’t want your life’s story, but maybe that should be your punishment, instead." She scoffed a little, and then shook her head, straightening her back.

"I won’t have you on your death bed when you could be learning from your mistake. That’s too good a fate for you. You’re to stay in Arendelle, and when we find a use for you, we’ll put you to it. But for now- here you’ll stay." she turned to go, but gave him a last look. He still appeared to be the Prince she felt so passionately about- just as handsome, with the same dreamy eyes and freckles- but that only made it more heartbreaking. 

And with that, she turned to leave, approaching the guards at the door and leaving him to tell Elsa of her desires.

-

Oh, sweet, sweet naive little Anna. Hans didn’t say a word as she spoke and as he watched her leave, he had to smile. Just a little. Sure, he hadn’t entirely thought that would work, but it had. He wasn’t going to go back home - well, depending agreed or not. But how would she say no to the sister who meant so much to her?

But still, there was a crippling fear deep down. What would happen if they found his secret? Fire wasn’t as beautiful or harmless as ice could be. Fire was destruction. 

He stared down at his shackled hands, thankful they had let him keep his gloves. But for how long? He’d be stripped of his title of prince, no doubt. And be put in proper prison garb. Life in confinement wasn’t all that different than his life in the castle.

Hans sat back down and sighed. He’d get out of here eventually. Run away. Become someone else. Tricking Anna was easy. It was Elsa he had to watch out for.

Now, though, he attempted to sleep on the hard stone rather to sit and wait for his official fate.


	2. Service

It’s a difficult thing, to build a convincing conversation in which Elsa allows Anna to keep Hans not only inside Arendelle, but also in servitude within the castle. Eventually, however, Elsa agrees, under the condition that he is under constant and tight supervision.  
Anna, relieved, resumed the duties of a Princess- that is, being bored. Bored, and feeling heavily neglected- sure, Elsa was more open with her now, but she was also a Queen now, with a ton of responsibilities and no King to share them with. So often, Anna was still alone in her hallways and rooms, and had a hard time occupying herself.   
In the afternoon, Anna finds herself wandering toward the kitchens, setting about to sneak a snack- she was always reprimanded for eating between meals, but if she could just slip in and out without anyone spotting her- “Oof!”   
She bumped into a servant’s back, and stumbled, landing right on her backside on the floor. Blinking, disoriented, she laughed and prepared to find her excuse for being in the close vicinity of the kitchens. “Oh! Sorry about that, I was just-” she stared up to see Hans, and almost groaned aloud. Of course.  
"Er." Eloquent.  
-  
Ever so eloquent and refined. Hans should have expected it was here before she even spoke. He had nearly dropped the stacked plate he had just finished cleaning. Quickly catching them before he turned to give the person a piece of his mind, stopping only when he stared down at Anna.  
"Do you always run into people like this?" It was more rhetorical than anything, but he begrudgingly offered a hand to help her up. He honestly didn’t care if she was snacking in here. Wasn’t his castle. It could have been, but it wasn’t.  
He didn’t really expect her to take his hand, and he contemplated retracting it. Given, rationally, his hands were a lot warmer than normal without his gloves on. He should have thought about that.  
-  
Anna stared at his hand for an awkward second, but did take it, in the end, and pulled herself up. He must have just been washing dishes in hot water, his hands were quite warm. In fact, it almost felt as though if she held on too long they’d burn her-  
"I didn’t know you were working in the kitchens today," was all she decided to say, brushing off her skirt with both hands and then sort of- fumbling to give them something to do. God, this was weird, why was she so awkward around him even now? If she were Elsa, she’d be towering over him and being intimidating and commanding, making him really feel the repercussions of his actions- but she’s just Anna.   
Just Anna, the little spare button, the extra horseshoe, the girl who was bad at metaphors.  
-  
He was glad she let go quickly. Flexing his own fingers and trying not to think about it too much. Clearly she didn’t think too much of it. He gave a small roll of his eyes before turning back to the remaining dishes. “Surprise,” he drawled. He preferred keeping his hands in water. Kept the element down, even if it…brought back terrible memories.   
But no one was forcing his head under icy cold water anymore. Not here. He could be thankful for that.   
Still, he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his days scrubbing his life away in this castle. No. He had his escape plan. He’d been learning all the ways this castle worked. What guards were stationed where, what times.   
Escape was going to be too easy. And he was planning for tonight.   
And he completely forgot Anna was still in the kitchen when he started muttering things to himself. Half-thoughts. Hopefully didn’t make any sense to her.  
-  
Anna went about her business, not saying anything, rooting around for her favorite chocolates and having little success for a bit. Just about to give up, she put her hands on her hips and looked around the room- she heard Hans muttering to himself, but decided not to care.  
"Have you seen any of those little chocolates around here?" she asked, as she took a few steps around and peeked into corners where they would never possibly be. "They were the round ones, with the pinks and blues on top- and- eugh." In her poking around, she had managed to move a bag of flour that turned out to be opened. It puffed into her face and she coughed, waving it away and trying to dust off the top bit of her bodice and her cheeks, but she already looked like a child who had gotten into a mess.  
"Oh, you know what I mean, the ones you ate at the coronation." a pause, and then she looked at the back of his head. "Were you lying about enjoying the chocolate fondue, too?" just how much of that evening was a lie, anyway? Did he hate chocolate, was he really fond of sandwiches, did he have brothers that ignored him for years?  
-  
Hans was regrettably reminded that she was still in the kitchen and as he went to look over his shoulder, he frowned at the mess she made with the flower. “You know I just swept the floor, right?” Why did he bother to even make that comment?  
He went about drying his hands, scowling and noticing he may have started to sizzle the towel there. In a nervous panic he dropped the towel in the sudsy water and turned around, arms folded as she started hounding him with questions.  
"They’re up on the top shelf, which I shouldn’t even be telling you and you can’t reach anyway. The other servants have been trying to make sure you don’t eat them all before the actual parties start.”  
As for the rest of her questions, he gave her a flat look. “I like chocolate fondue just fine, Princess.”  
-  
"Do you blame me for asking? I have no idea how much of it was an act. I mean, we talked about so much that evening! For all I know, your brothers are angels and you were just playing a pity card on me.” Anna snapped, and then turned to face the top shelf- yep, if she backed up enough, she could see the platter. With a determined look on her face, she planted one boot firmly on the edge of an open cupboard under the counter, and tried to hoist herself up on top of it, so that she might have a chance of reaching the platter. She was awfully short, it was quite a sight.  
"And- nh- I’m not- augh, so close! - going to eat them all! They’re just so good, and they only give me like two with dinner, and dinner isn’t for hours!" Actually, only an hour and a half, but to Anna it felt like decades. "Ugh! Elsa could reach those.” she pouts, fingertips wiggling as she struggles to graze the platter even just a little. Ah yes. The Princess of a whole Kingdom.  
-  
Hans bristled at the accusation that his brothers could be angels and he could feel the flames licking at his fingers. Sorely glad she had her back turned to him but with her climbing and trying to reach that platter, he could only imagine her toppling over and the cabinet with her. He should want that to happen, but then he’d be blamed for it. And then how could he escape? So he went to snuff out his fire and clear his throat.  
"Get down before you knock everything over, I’ll get them for you," he said with a heavy sigh, walking over and leaning up to grab the plate. Not realizing he would be heating the metal a good bit due to his earlier temper. The chocolates were probably melted a bit. Oops.   
-  
A little bit reluctant to take his help, Anna eventually did get down, and took the plate with a big smile, eager- until she noted that the chocolates were a bit…melted. There was no way it was warm in here, not right now- so-  
"Huh. That’s strange." she blinked, peering at a few, poking at one, and licking the chocolate off her fingertip. "They’re melted. The fires haven’t been on since last night, to my knowledge…" she trailed off, and set the plate down on the counter, then glanced at her fingertips- bright red. "The plate’s hot, too…?"  
Perplexed, she furrowed her brow in confusion and looked the shelf over from where she stood. “How odd.”   
-  
Hans made a face but was glad Anna wasn’t all that bright to make an actual connection. So he went back to the dishes and simply shrugged his shoulders. “This castle is odd, so…” Back to washing and drying plates.  
Focus. Don’t get carried away. Hans soaked his hands and really, really wished the water wasn’t’ steaming so much. This was not working. “Can you please leave the kitchen now, I’m very busy.”  
-  
Anna rolled her eyes and took a few chocolates into her hand- then a few more- a couple in her mouth- and after swallowing, she made to leave. She glanced back at him and opened her mouth- thinking of saying something, but then shutting up again.  
She left without commentary, but a thoughtful look was on her face the whole walk back to her room, where she finished off her sweet treat and waited through until dinner.  
It came and went, flawless, and Hans wasn’t seen anywhere- he wasn’t permitted to wait personally on the ladies during meals, Elsa was nervous that he’d try to poison them. Anna didn’t know why she had faith he wouldn’t- she’d been proven wrong about him before.


	3. Finding Fire

But, restless as ever, Anna ended up wandering the halls that very evening after most of the staff was in bed- the guards didn’t say anything as she passed them, and she was grateful for that- however, she heard a distant pitter-patter of footsteps further down the corridor, near the kitchens, which she was familiar with intimately at this time of night- guards didn’t bother there.

Frowning, she wondered if Elsa had a midnight snack craving too- sometimes her sister could be spontaneous- and she approached.

-

Hans was busy stocking up on provisions. He had meant to do so before hand but the day had been very busy with errands. He was trying to be as quiet as possible and tied up the bag before he slowly and stealthily went to leave the kitchen and turn down the hall nearest that he knew wouldn’t be heavily guarded around this hour.

He was unaware he was noticed by the princess as he came nearer and nearer to the small exit door, hand reaching for the knob of freedom, sucking in a breath and hoping he didn’t melt the damn thing at this rate.

He was a mess of anxiety. Being caught was constantly on his mind. He was taking a huge risk and if caught, how could he get himself out of further trouble?

-

Anna pulled open that small exit door before Hans could, and blinked as she was face-to-face with him- spotting his sack, too. She may not be the brightest of the bunch, but she knew an escape when she saw it.

"Hans." she said, abruptly, unable to hide her surprise even if she knew what he was trying to do. "Where do you think  _you’re_ going?”

-

Hans looked completely startled, his grip on the door knob causing it to heat up to a dangerous scorching level. If Anna was still holding it, she would more than likely be burned, but he quickly let go and held his hand up, hoping it wasn’t giving any signs of his ability before he backed up.

Damn it. He should have tried a different exit - but what were the odds of ditsy Anna pulling something like this? Apparently very high.

"Nowhere. I was just…exploring the castle?" He grimaced. Yeah, she’d fall for that, all right. Especially with the bag of stuff he collected.

-

Anna rolled her eyes and placed both hands on her hips. “Hans, you’re a better actor than liar. I’m a little bit- gullible, but I’m not  _stupid._ You’re running off.” she scowled a little bit, and went back to open the door, blindly feeling for the knob- and then she gave a yelp of pain.

She pulled her hand back and stared down at it- a bright red, near-second-degree burn covered her fingertips, and she winced as she looked up at him. “What the-” slowly, it was starting to make sense.

The chocolates had been melting, the plate had been hot- only after Hans had given it to her. The knob just now was burning- and she watched him carefully, slowly feeling the other side of the door, where the knob she had just turned laid- it was warm, but nowhere near as hot. Only the side that Hans had touched was blistering.

"Are…you’re not….?" ‘Like Elsa’ is what she wanted to say, suddenly quite enthralled. Hans was a pretty terrible guy, but if he had a story similar to Elsa’s…it would be easier to help him. To understand him. To close the wounds he ripped into her.

-

No, no. She was figuring it out. He saw that look and he was backing up instantly. Anna was the last possible person who should know what he was. He didn’t answer her at all, he simply gripped her arm, not caring at his point it would burn her or not and pulled her away from the door before he went to run through it. Forget the supplies, he needed to get out of here.

Anna could call for guards all she wanted, tell the whole world what he was, but he wasn’t sticking around without a fight. The second this kingdom knew his secret, they would demand his execution, or worse, be put under more treatments. Elsa may have had it easier than him, but he doubted the kingdom were as kind to freaks as her parents were.

She could control her powers now. He was losing his grip on his. He could feel it rippling through him and it hurt. All those years suppressing it out of fear. But fear could only control so much. He was too angry. Too angry.

And he knew the floor under him was cracking with steam behind him. 

-

Anna gasped with pain as he  _did_ burn her arm- he burned right through her modest evening robe, and her skin was raw and red from his touch. Now she was certain, and especially as he ran, steam trailing after him the way Elsa had frost after her.

"STOP!" she shouted, "I’M NOT GOING TO  _TELL_ ANYONE BUT YOU’VE GOT TO  _STOP!_ " she was frantic to bring him back, to talk to him reasonably. This changed so much in her eyes- forgiveness was possible, it was in the future and it could be where she landed if he would only stand still. But that didn’t look likely. The guards came rushing to her aid as they heard her, and she looked seriously toward them.

"Stop him from leaving this castle! And  _be careful!_ " she didn’t want to give up on her word already, so she would not warn her guards. They all had armor on- and as long as Hans didn’t…. _do_  anything, his secret would remain safe.

-

He couldn’t stop now. No turning back. Hans couldn’t fight it back anymore, couldn’t she see that? He wasn’t her sister, it wasn’t like that. Fire was never safe. Ever. It was beaten into him daily, a painful reminder his curse was ugly and only caused suffering. There was no beauty in fire. Only at a distance. 

And that was why he had to leave, had to get out. Rational thought was out the window, it was pure panicked instinct as the guards were soon after him. He could feel the heat rising and rising inside him. When he was cornered,  he held his hands up and made a slashing motion, letting the flame out as it blew the guards back. The heat turning their blades red,  in turn dropping them in pain and shock. 

Hans was breathing heavy, eyes wild before he went to dart away as they were too shocked, but then there was Elsa as she froze his feet and he fell face first into floor. He didn’t remember anything after that, the stress having caused him to black out the second his head met the floor.

But he knew he was in the dungeon again. And there were so many guards. Hands restrained against his back. Clever queen. He couldn’t very well use much of the fire at all if he couldn’t move his hands freely.

In a way he was thankful. But the ground was hot under him. Steam rolling out of his mouth and nose. It was painful but it almost didn’t hurt at all. Simply his mind telling him it was bad, that it should hurt. 

"Water…" he rasped out, hoping one of the guards would answer his request. But they just stared at him passively. But he knew they were afraid of him. He saw it in their eyes.


	4. Fools Gold

Anna was a bit busy, fighting with Elsa over what to do now. The secret of Hans’ abilities was to remain within the castle, they both agreed on that- but not much else. Elsa wanted to keep him down there, chained and left to deal with his consequences- but Anna wanted more for him.

"Do you remember when  _Hans_ locked you up? You said you broke free, you were so passionately  _frightened_ and  _panicked_ that you broke free! He could melt his bonds away if he tried hard enough. We can’t contain him,  _you_ should know better than anyone!” she frowned, crossing her arms. “You can’t cage a person, it - it ruins them. And who knows what kind of family Hans came from? Not everyone might be as … as supportive as Mom or Dad was. What if -“

Elsa cut her off and gave her permission to oversee Hans’ treatment from that point forward under strict conditions- Anna was never to be left alone. She wore a cloak lined with a wax that was fire-retardant, and thick mittens no matter the season, whenever she wanted to see him. Hans was to be locked and guarded every evening, and kept away from anything flammable.

Finally Anna was off to the dungeons, but when she turned the corner, she heard him rasping something- the guards just  _stood there._  “What is it?” she asked, frowning as she approached the bars. She looked down, then knelt, and tilted her head. “…Oh! Oh, my gosh- water, get him some water!” she frowned, staring up at the men in armor. They looked nervous, shifted among themselves, and Anna frowned deeper. “ _That is an order._ " 

Two men shuffled away, and Anna looked back at Hans. “They’ll get you some.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised at all to see Anna. But he was inwardly glad she got the worthless guards to actually get him water. He was parched. But there was that inner fear that what if they were getting a tank. What if they contacted his brothers in some way and they told them what to do in this case.

-

Hans swallowed down the panic as best he could, but he could feel the chains behind him heating up. He slowly inched away from the bars, away from Anna. He hadn’t said a word since requesting water. Wasn’t sure he could.

But he needed to know what was to be done to him now. He took in a breath. “So…now what?” He narrowed his eyes on the princess, but there wasn’t any anger there, not right then. Hans knew it had been stupid to have taken that chance for escape. Now he had lost what little freedom he had. And he doubted Anna could protect him forever, for whatever naive reason she kept trying.

When the guard returned with the water, there was a lot of hesitation before they opened his cell and brought the cup over. They couldn’t unfasten his arms, far too dangerous, so he had to drink it then as they put it to his lips. Degrading as it was. But he was getting water and that was all that mattered. When that was finished, the guard left and closed and locked the cell again.

-

When he’s done with the water, she finally responds.

She sits down on the ground, and the guards give her some space, but don’t leave her alone. Probably on Elsa’s orders. “Now you’re even worse off than you began, you moron. If you had only listened to me, you’d be a lot better off right now.” she glowered. What a stubborn man.

"But…well, I talked to Elsa." she fidgeted a bit, looked at her lap. "And as long as I wear some special garments, and promise to watch over you, well, you’re allowed to be out and … stuff." she shrugged a bit. "And I can’t force you to talk, but, I really wish you would." she adds on, a little quieter than anything else she’s said.

-

Hans had to give a snort. Anna watching over him? Seriously? Elsa and her sister were far too innocent to reign over a kingdom. It was almost sickening. Pathetic. It also didn’t help his harbored jealousy. He could have been that. He could have been a good king. Showed his brothers, his family, he wouldn’t be like them.

But he was exactly like them, if not worse.  Given he’d failed all of his attempts. And look at him now, no more than a princess’  _pet project_. He wanted to burn this whole dungeon to the ground with him in it. The anger was coiling out of him in a steam of heat from his skin as sweat from his body evaporated. 

"You’re a  _fool_. You all are.” There was so much hatred in him it was damned near sickening. And he couldn’t even get it all out, this seething fire, without destroying everything in his path. 

Hans reeled it back in, though. Shoved it down down down to the point he wanted to scream and beat his head against the wall to make the burning stop, but he kept still, green eyes watching Anna like a wounded animal waiting to strike out.

"You should bring a water tank in here."

A hollow voice. He could barely recognize it as his own. As much as he feared it, he couldn’t deny that it weakened his powers enough when he was barely conscious and exhausted.

-

"Why would I do  _that_?” Anna frowned, raising a brow. “That would be miserable for you. I think you’re already miserable enough.” she heaved a sigh and pillowed her cheek on her palm, looking at him with a thoughtful expression.

"You really don’t know anything about kindness? Compassion? Second chances? Or is it that you just choose to believe your warpath is better? …Have you ever tried to reign in your powers, or have you just stuffed them into gloves and called it a day? Did you ever try to measure when they’re most under control versus when they’re hardest to reel in? Have you  _ever_ tried to love  _anyone_?” It was what worked for Elsa. Maybe Hans needed that, too.

Anna was just…not sure he was willing to see that as a solution. 

She stood up without waiting for his answer. “How about this. I’ll come by once or twice in a day and if you want to walk around with me, or- or practice trying to control it- I can arrange for it. Otherwise, you’re free to stay in your cell. They’ll bring you food and water. You’ll get medical treatment.” a pause. “You’ll be transferred to a cell lined with brick in the morning, so that the guards don’t have to fear your heat will break you out. If you want, we’ll relinquish your gloves back to you, too. Otherwise, those are the only arrangements I can make for you.”

-

Everything she said sounded like pins and needles in his brain. Everything opposite he’d ever been told, submitted into with abuse after abuse. He tried to not listen, to block her out and everything else as he rolled over to his side.

He was tired of looking at her and it sounded like she was about to leave soon anyway. “Just bring me gloves whenever,” he muttered. He wasn’t going to explain the water tank. It was as close to what he could tell her his life was like without actually telling her. And he didn’t want to tell her anyway. Even if garnering more sympathy would do him better in the long run.

Somehow he couldn’t bring himself to bother anymore.

But there was a physical flinch at the mention of medical treatment and he hoped to any god out there she hadn’t been smart enough to notice it.

-

She had, however- she chose not to say anything about it.

Hans could keep his secrets for a while longer. She was determined to wear them out of him eventually. There was good in there, there was something genuine about the way he had talked to her that one evening, how he laughed and smiled and danced with her. She found her head resting on her pillow that night, with only curious questions running through her head. Why did he ask for a water tank? Did medical treatment frighten him?

This was the first time that Anna had ever wondered if Hans’ family was more vile and cruel than she imagined them to be, but it would not be the last.


	5. The Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is right about where you'll discover this was a very self-indulgent roleplay with whimsical and cheesy elements such as the language of flowers. I've included the "translations" in the end notes.

In the morning, she had the guards deliver his gloves, and by afternoon she decided to pay him another visit. She wondered if he remembered anything she said.

"Afternoon, Hans." she greeted, surprisingly in a cheerful tone. She was trying to keep spirits up as best she could, Elsa was still cross with her, she would prefer not to engage in anything too heavily negative with Hans, too. If he put up any kind of heavy attitude or fight, she’d just leave. No more pestering him to open up. She’d show him she wasn’t quite so desperate for his softening. "Would you like to go see the gardens? It’s a beautiful day outside, you know, and the flowers are in full bloom on the South side."

-

Hans felt a lot less strained when he had the gloves on. They weren’t lined with asbestos, but that was fine.  They still felt contained, even if it was mostly in his head. Hiding. The chains had been removed now and the brick cell was enough to keep him complacent with nothing to burn. Even if it reminded him of the ice room his family had put him in as a child.

When Anna was allowed in, he was standing and glancing out the little bit of window for sunlight before he glanced towards her. His hands were still behind his back, shackles or not. Old habit. Holding them back. 

"Afternoon, princess," he acknowledged. His mood was hard to decipher. He was far more collected than he had been yesterday. Perhaps the gloves did more to his psyche than he gave them credit for.

"If it’s acceptable I go with you to the gardens, then I will." 

-

"Great!" Anna smiled, and she gave a nod as she stepped back out of the cell, watching as the guards held the heavy door for Hans as he walked right out. She was wearing a long, heavy-looking cloak, but underneath was one of her typical colorful day dresses. She had mittens on that looked fit for winter, and she was surely going to be quite warm outside, but she didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. It was the price to pay for being around someone who could burn through her flesh.

She led him up out of the dungeon, and into the castle’s main halls, leading him to the Southern gardens. As they walked, it was very obvious that Anna was being watched by a large portion of the royal guard. And once they eventually made it outdoors, guards nearly lined the exterior walls, far enough away to give them privacy, but certainly close enough to jump and outnumber Hans regardless of his elemental advantage.

"Is it obvious that they expect you to make the same mistake twice?" Anna chuckled under her breath- it was kind of uncharacteristic of her, not only to compliment his intelligence, but also to play on a bit of dark humor. But she had the capability in her once in a while.

-

Hans followed her outside, watching the guards while pretending they were invisible at the same time. Acknowledging them but refusing to find them threatening. When Anna spoke to him, he gave her a side glance and a small raise of his eyebrow. 

Not sure if he should find humor in her statement or not. He gave a sigh and a small shrug eventually. “You can’t blame them. They’re just doing their job.” They had every reason not to trust them. So why did Anna, after everything? She was so frustratingly optimistic. She made it so easy for him to hurt her. 

The former prince let his hands stay firmly at his sides while fingers curled a little defensively out of habit before he went to actually look at the gardens. The last time he caught a view of them, he and Anna were flirting and having fun - and it was at night.

Seeing it in light was certainly a sight. And he hadn’t been outside in quite some time now. The warmth outside of his own body heat was a nice feeling. He might have been smiling. A little. Forgetting Anna was there.

-

Anna allowed the silence to linger for some time, just enjoying the flowers, the smell, the sun- well, trying to enjoy it, as she kind of wished it were winter with how heavy this dumb cloak was.

Finally, as they rounded another corner where bushes and bushes of daisies in every natural color were clumped in neat arrangements, she spoke quietly. “Do you know anything about the language of flowers?” she busied herself looking at them all quite closely, obviously actually enjoying her surroundings as opposed to focusing on prying Hans open for any answers.

-

"I do," Hans informed her, gazing over the daisies and varying colors. He  had his hands behind his back again. As if fearing the nearest touch from his hands would set the whole garden aflame.

Which was ridiculous. He knew that. But that kind of fear never would go away, with as deep seeded his loathing was over his powers. “I used to have books on it that I would study when I was bored.”

Because for the longest time, he’d never been out to the gardens to see actual flowers. Locked away in the ice room. Or any room. Closed off from the family, from playtime, from the outside. He hadn’t seen an actual flower in person for twelve years before he convinced everyone he was under control. That it was okay to let him out. That he was safe.

Hans found no harm on giving her innocent stories of his life. Hiding the violent, dark details.

-

"It’s my favorite," She admits, stopping at pure white daisies with brown-button centers. "I think I like it better than English."

She bent down, just then, and knelt at the side of the patch, lightly brushing the stems and searching through the large bushel as if looking for something in particular. She plucked a daisy with a bent stem, and, with a sort of childlike excitement, threaded it in her hair behind her ear. She stood again and they resumed their walk.

"I mean, can you imagine how much a bouquet says to a person? It seems more meaningful than words sometimes, and you can express so many different feelings all at once without having to find the words for it." she was mostly just rambling for the sake of having someone to talk to that wasn’t Elsa, or a hired hand, but part of her wanted to find  _something_ Hans enjoyed that might get him to loosen up. She’d start with her own passing interests as a base.

-

"It does have a certain magic to it," he agreed in a quiet tone. More so on nostalgic memories. The few pleasant ones he even had. He watched her put the flower in her hair and he tried not to stare so much at it.

Clearing his throat and following her as they resumed the walk. Hans listened to her ramble on about the flowers and their secret language, just letting her talk. Simply nodding when he had no words to say. He didn’t really have the heart to chime in with her excitement. There was only so much pretending he could do after yesterday.

"I never had anyone to really practice it with," he said offhandedly while he stared at a section of anemone*. He averted his eyes then. Staring ahead. He let out a small sigh.

-

"Magic is a good way to put it." She smiled, glancing down at the flowers they passed- anemone, and she caught him staring, and she wanted to say something. But she didn’t. She wanted him to be comfortable- she wouldn’t question his unspoken thoughts.,

They walked for a short while longer, before Anna bent again and picked a passion flower**. She held it out to him with a too-bright smile. “For you.”

-

Hans’ eyes glanced over at her offered flower and he even lifted his hand to take it, understanding the message, but then he felt the all too familiar heat in his hand. He’d end up setting the flower on fire at that rate - and what message would that send?

So he lowered his hand and kept a stoic expression. “I can’t. But thank you anyway.”

-

Anna looked hurt- then pouted, and stood on her toes (even if she didn’t really need to) in order to put the flower up behind his ear. She smirked a bit. “What a pretty Prince you’d make.” she teased, before moving onward through the garden.

She believed in Hans. She finally found a word for it- thank goodness for the language of flowers. He was going to take her belief and  _accept it_ , or else. 

-

 _What a pretty prince you’d make_.

Those words shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did. He thought he’d be over it by now. Apparently not. But momentarily, that stupid flower she’d placed on him sort of pushed that heap of self loathing and misplaced anger down for a moment longer.

Though, if that was better or worse, it was hard to tell.

Hans did try to smile, though. Because it was…nice of her. To have that sort of faith in him when no one else had. Even after he broke it twice already. Maybe he shouldn’t take it seriously, since clearly she was mad to even bother believing in him  _still_  - 

The inner battle was probably lost to Anna anyway, with her walking on and him still standing there and looking clearly dumbfounded. But soon he shook it off and went to catch up with her. He didn’t bother removing the flower. And it wasn’t burning away, either. 

"You’re too good of a person, Anna," he sighed. It was exhausting.

-

"What? Psh, please. You just need to open your heart a little."

Anna shrugged, and soon they rounded a corner and came back to the edge of the garden they started at. “Geeze, where did time go? We’ve been out here for a while if we’re already back at the start.” 

Anna was pro at not showing it, but she was currently  _sweltering._ A cloak and mittens fit for the thickest winter on a beautiful sunny Spring afternoon? The sun high in the sky, a breeze but only light? A corset so tightly laced to her sides? Yeah, it was just…asking for disaster. But she was willing to go through that. His little smile there had made things worth it. She dropped her facade for just a few seconds to wipe her brow, but hoped he had not noticed.

"Anything else you feel like doing?" she asked, as she approached the doors back into the castle and passed the guards that held them open. Sweet, sweet shade…

-

He could tell how hot she was, it was no secret. With the way she was dressed for winter and yet it was a warm day like this. And he knew why she was dressed like this. And the longer she was made to wear all that around him, who was a walking furnace at this point, would only hurt her more. Possibly pass out.

She didn’t need to spend so much time with him. Hans gave a courteous bow once they were inside. “Thank you, princess, but I think I should return to my cell. You look like you need a break from the heat.” He offered a proper smile, giving tiny glances at the guards watching them. Waiting for him to make some sort of wrong move. He had to keep calm and self assured. And they could raise their eyebrows all they wanted at the flower. He didn’t care.

-

"What? Oh, don’t be silly, it hardly bothers me!" She tries to sound convincing. "I promise, I’d  _tell_ you if I needed a break. Swear it.”

She gave a bit of a swallow, adjusted her cloak. “I can’t last much longer, but I’m still okay for a bit. I- I mean unless, you know, you’d rather just go back, and of course I wouldn’t stop you or anything. You don’t  _have_ to spend time with me.” she shrugged, though it was almost invisible by the cloak’s weight and thickness over her shoulders. 

-

Hans gave her a bit of an exasperated look. It was hard to keep up with her constant influx of optimism. And knowing it wasn’t at all fake like his own. How could she do it? After so many years of isolation, when her sister had neglected her?

Why did she turn out so positive while he was just -

He shook his head. “I think it’d relax everyone in the castle if I just returned to my room. Perhaps we’ll find something else to do tomorrow.”

-

"Sure. I’ll come by tomorrow, same time and everything." she nodded, and held out her arm in a gesture of exaggerated obnoxiousness, It was intended to make him laugh, and reverse the role of female-and-male arm escorts. 

"May I escort you back to your chambers?"

She remembered his sweetest laugh.

-

Hans raised an eyebrow at the gesture and for a moment he forgot his current situation for once and went to take her arm with an amused little laugh. “I would be honored.”

Of course the tenseness in the room surrounding them brought him back to reality and he quickly jerked his hand back. It was stupid, he couldn’t even really hurt her with all that she was wearing, and his gloves were there for control - yet still, here he was, retreating back. He cleared his throat. “After you, Princess Anna…”

Hands behind his back again, one gripping his wrist tightly.

-

Anna put on a pout again, and reached slowly along his forearm, tapping his wrist softly. “I offered you my arm. It’s rude to decline, especially royalty.” she wanted to coax him into trust. Just a little bit. Just this much.

Her eyes practically screamed it-  _Please, just give me this much. Show me I’m getting through to you, even just a little bit. I’m trying hard._

_-_

Hans hesitated for a long moment. Another internal battle. He studied her face for a long moment, ignoring the royal guards’ leering eyes and accepted her arm. The sooner back to his little chamber, the better.

It had nothing to do with opening up to her at all. Right? Right.

And there was no burning. Not yet. His fire was focused within for now. Control. _Control_.

Maybe a part of him didn’t want to disappoint Anna.. Like he’d disappointed his family time and time again when he slipped up. So he wouldn’t slip up here. Not now. Because for once there was someone who, despite knowing the curse, wasn’t treating him like a monster - _even when he knew she should_.

-

Anna beamed- really beamed, practically glowed. It was working! He was really beginning to warm up to her!

Haha. Warm up.

Wordlessly, she escorted him down to the dungeon, and swept her arm out, bowing like the Prince he used to be as his door was opened for him, then lifting her head to look up at him with a big smile on her face. 

"I hope I could make it an enjoyable afternoon."

-

"It was…" He paused to think of the correct words without sounding too obtuse, glancing at the opened cell door and back at Anna. He offered another small smile, gently poking the flower behind his ear. " _Something_.”

Hans returned the bow before finally stepping back into the closed off room. Hearing the heavy door close behind him. He let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. 

For Anna being such an open book, he still didn’t understand the words written there on her face.

 _Why_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *anemone: indicates fading hope and a feeling of having been forsaken. On a positive note it symbolizes anticipation.  
> **passion flower: belief.


	6. The Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do keep in mind we're still super self-indulgent losers who decided to incorporate the most depressing poetry possible into our dumb roleplay.

The next day, Anna returns as promised.

She had spent the rest of the day and the whole evening basking in the glow of a successful outing with Hans previous. It was just exciting because she had seen the buds of a forthcoming man in there- deep, deep down, such quiet and tiny buds, but they were  _there._ They gave her hope.

And speaking of hope, today she brought an entire bunch of passion flowers to his cell, along with a small ceramic vase, and set them on a small table in the corner.

"For you," she smiled slightly, and then clasped her hands behind her back.

"What shall we do today, Hans?" Leave it up to him to decide this time, see if he had any suggestions.

-

Hans had been expecting her some time that day and was gently pacing the room until he heard the sound of the heavy door being opened. He watched Anna step in so casually and so happily as she set the vase down at the table. Feeling guilty just looking at them because he knew himself clearly better than Anna. And her belief in him was more frustrating than anything he’d ever had to deal with.

"Thank you, Princess. You didn’t have to." He had left the first passion flower in his water glass last night, although he really didn’t know why he bothered. He had handled it as delicately as possible while trying not to burn it. Amazed he had managed it. But now there were so many flowers in the room, he worried about that.

Thank goodness for gloves. Speaking of which, hands were behind his back again as he curled his fingers into his palms. He hadn’t thought of what they could do, in all honesty, so he just blurted out something he was familiar. “How about a few hours in the library?”

Of course that was probably the worst idea, given he was highly flammable at this rate and a room filled with books? That was asking for trouble. But too late now, he’d already said it.

-

Anna just grins giddily; she didn’t expect him to actually answer her with a proper activity, for some reason.

"Library!" she repeats, and then marches for the door again. "I haven’t re-read the books at the library for ages, this could be quite the adventure." she remarked. 

However, a little bit of a worry tugged at the edges of her thoughts- not because of his flammability, but because of her own exhaustion. Last night she had slept, but woke feeling still quite uneasy, as though she didn’t get enough rest. She was nervous to be surrounded by quietness and literature for fear of falling asleep- but she’d try her best.

-

"…right," Hans muttered behind her, hesitating before he went to follow after her. He was nervous, for whatever reason. Quietly wishing he could just take back this idea entirely but really, he’d spent time in a library before. Even sneaked out of his room when he figured out how to keep it from being unlocked, just to go grab a book from the library to read.

He put on a front of a smile again, glancing around the halls they passed for the library. “Re-read? As in you’ve already read all the books you have in the library?” Hans’ brows raised. There was honestly no way, unless it was small? Or had she really had as much alone time as he once had…?

_No, no, Hans. Do not relate to her. That was all just an act, remember? Get it together._

-

"Oh, no, I read them all." Anna clarified, apparently not seeing what was so wrong about that just yet. "I started out with all the ones I  _wanted_  to read- and then all the ones I thought Elsa would want to read- and then all the cartography books- ” she shrugged. “Eventually, I couldn’t pick up a book without already having read it. But hey, it’s always great to re-visit your favorite books, right?”

She neglected to tell him, for fear of being mocked, that the fairytales had been her favorite.

They made it to the library, and the guards followed them in and stationed themselves along the edges of the walls, again allowing the couple privacy but refusing to stay too far out of reach.

"Mmm, I love the smell of old books!" she grinned, moving inside and taking a slow, deep breath.

-

"I wonder if any of my own favorite books would be here," he said more to himself rather than Anna. He did take a moment to look at her while she breathed in that "old book" smell.

It did bring back somewhat pleasant memories of home. The few he had. He looked away when he felt he was staring and went to go towards one of the tall shelves to have a look and familiarize himself with what this library could have inside. If anything, he could always come here to escape as he had most of his childhood when it wasn’t wrought with suffering and _behaving_.

He hesitated picking out a book, a gloved finger brushing against a spine and almost mistaking a bit of dust as smoke, jerking his hand back and frowning in worry.

Paranoid. Even if Anna said he shouldn’t be afraid of his powers. She clearly didn’t know what he was truly capable of. In honesty, neither did he. And he didn’t want to find out.

This had been a terrible idea from the start.

-

Anna was paying more attention to Hans than he must have thought, because after a few seconds, Anna was reaching up to take the book he had touched a little bit, turning it over in her hands.

"Hey, poetry!" she grinned, drumming her fingers on the cover and rubbing them over the raised leather- William Butler Yeats. "He’s one of my favorite poets- Yeats, I mean. Have you- have you read anything of his?" she asked, opening the book and flipping through selections.

"I bet you have a really good voice for poetry. You seem like the kind of person who knows how to read them without sounding weird." she made a little face and looked up at him. "I can never pace them right, even if it seems straightforward."

-

Hans nearly jumped out of his skin when she was suddenly there and taking the book, his fingers curling reflexively while he stared at her and then at the book. Relaxing slowly enough while she rattled on about the poet and he gave her a curious look when she asked how he felt about reading poetry.

"I’ve honestly never read any out loud to myself." Half-truth. He’d whisper when he was a child, but was always to afraid of being heard in the dark when he read. a tiny flame in his hand when he wasn’t so terrified of it.

He did, however, contemplate humoring her. “I can give it a try, though. I am familiar with some of his work.” This time, though, he wasn’t going to worry himself over burning the damn thing.

He could do this simple task.

-

Anna blinked, and then hurried to hold the book out to him, eager. “Oh, okay, just hold on!” she zoomed off, running quite unladylike and vanishing, only to re-appear a few seconds later with a heavy armchair. She winced as she dragged it over, and repeatedly refused help from the guards who rushed to aid her. Once she had it settled down, she flopped into it and wiggled to get comfortable, looking up at Hans expectantly.

"Okay! Whenever you’re ready, Mister Yeats." she teased, the corner of her lower lip pulling itself into her mouth between her teeth instinctively to curb her enthusiasm.

She wanted Hans to know that there was more to his life than fear and loathing, she wanted him to find passions and pastimes that were healthy and rich and beautiful, like poetry, and the language of flowers, and dancing- things that made him happy, that distracted him from his powers. But most of all, she wanted Hans to know that she was giving him all the opportunities in the world to hurt her-

And that he was making a conscious decision  _not to do it_. He was capable of being more than a monster.

-

Hans caught the book as she had hurriedly, excitedly handed it to him. He watched her with widened eyes for a second while she dragged the arm chair over to take a seat. He had to raise an eyebrow at that and give a bit of a halfhearted smirk. She was insufferable more than half the time, but it was…often cute.

At being called “Mister Yeats”, he rolled his eyes and flipped to a page where he recognized a poem that, upon reading it, started making painful connections he hadn’t thought of before. But it was already too late, anyway. He’d begun reading it.

“ _We sat together at one summer’s end,_  
 _That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,_  
 _And you and I, and talked of poetry._  
 _I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;_  
 _Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,_  
 _Our stitching and unstitching has been naught._  
 _Better go down upon your marrow-bones_  
 _And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones_  
 _Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather;_  
 _For to articulate sweet sounds together_  
 _Is to work harder than all these, and yet_  
 _Be thought an idler by the noisy set_  
 _Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen_  
 _The martyrs call the world.’_  
 _And thereupon_  
 _That beautiful mild woman for whose sake_  
 _There’s many a one shall find out all heartache_  
 _On finding that her voice is sweet and low_  
 _Replied, ‘To be born woman is to know —_  
 _Although they do not talk of it at school —_  
 _That we must labour to be beautiful.’_  
 _I said, ‘It’s certain there is no fine thing_  
 _Since Adam’s fall but needs much labouring._  
 _There have been lovers who thought love should be_  
 _So much compounded of high courtesy_  
 _That they would sigh and quote with learned looks_  
 _precedents out of beautiful old books;_  
 _Yet now it seems an idle trade enough.’_  
 _We sat grown quiet at the name of love;_  
 _We saw the last embers of daylight die,_  
 _And in the trembling blue-green of the sky_  
 _A moon, worn as if it had been a shell_  
 _Washed by time’s waters as they rose and fell_  
 _About the stars and broke in days and years._  
 _I had a thought for no one’s but your ears:_  
 _That you were beautiful, and that I strove_  
 _To love you in the old high way of love;_  
 _That it had all seemed happy, and yet we’d grown_  
 _As weary-hearted as that hollow moon._ “

His voice had flowed with it, soft and almost weary as the words suggested. Maybe a little too sad than he had planned to make it sound. But there were things there hidden between lines that said more than he had liked to admit. He cleared his throat after he was done, flipping another page. “I remembered him being a little less depressing, or was I thinking of someone else…”

-

Anna did not notice her expression- it was soft and somber, but her eyes were longing and lonely and  _sad,_ outright  _sad_. No matter what freedom she had given Elsa on that coronation weekend, it had not done anything to make her feel less alone. And more than once, she’d found herself wondering if love just wasn’t for her- not the kind she dreamed about, anyway.

"No, erm." She straightened up, jostled herself into awareness again. "No, he’s usually a lot less depressing. You just happened upon one of his more sad ones." She smiled slightly and shrugged one shoulder.  "But you did really well! I can’t read with the right rhythm the way you do. You’re brilliant at that."  And she sort of really enjoyed his voice.

-

"Well, if you say so," Hans muttered in half amusement. Trying to brush that off. He skimmed through some of the others, mostly titles rather than content before he stumbled upon one. "All right, here’s another. ‘Down by the Salley Garden’." It SOUNDED like it would be pleasant and sweet. Gardens were nice.

So he straightened up and began reading again.

“ _Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;_  
 _She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet._  
 _She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;_  
 _But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree._  
 _In a field by the river my love and I did stand,_  
 _And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand._  
 _She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;_  
 _But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears. -_

Okay, are you _sure_  you’re right about this guy or do I just have very bad luck with finding good poetry?” Hans looked near exasperated. That was not a pleasantly ended poem at all. Maybe they should find something else to read…

-

Anna blinked a few times and swallowed. “No, no, I’m sure, he- he writes some nice things…I…well, at least I thought-” she wrinkled her nose and stood up, looking over the same shelf where they pulled the book from, and tugging down a secondary volume of Yeats. She sat back down in the chair and flipped pages, pointing.

"The Wind Among the Reeds- that sounds decent." she cleared her throat.

“ _Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,_  
 _Enwrought with golden and silver light,_  
 _The blue and the dim and the dark cloths_  
 _Of night and light and the half light,_  
 _I would spread the cloths under your feet:_  
 _But I, being poor, have only my dreams;_  
 _I have spread my dreams under your feet;_  
 _Tread softly because you tread on my dreams…_ ”

Anna swallowed a hard lump in her throat and shook her head. “Yeah, I’m no good at poetry, haha. Let’s - let’s put this guy back, I guess I was wrong!” she got back up to put the book away hastily.

-

"Splendid idea," he agreed just as quickly, closing his book and putting it back in place as well, trying not to give off the impression the poems had bothered him but that wasn’t going so well. At least that was over. He cleared his throat again and brushed a hand through his hair before he went to read over the other books in this section, arms folded over his chest. A subconscious effort to not touch anything until he was sure of what he wanted.

Ah. William Blake. He snatched that one. “Oh, here’s a good poet. He’s always had interesting ones.” Finding one passage, he read out loud.

“ _Cruelty has a human heart,_  
 _And Jealousy a human face;_  
 _Terror the human form divine,_  
 _And Secresy the human dress._  
  
 _The human dress is forged iron,_  
 _The human form a fiery forge,_  
 _The human face a furnace sealed,_  
 _The human heart its hungry gorge._ ”

He just stared. And slowly closed it and put it back. “Never mind, let’s not bother with poetry for the rest of the day.”

-

Anna was struck by disbelief. “Jeeze, today is just…” but she trailed off, shaking her head.

"How about a story, then?" in this whole hubbub she’d forgotten her insecurity about her favorite fairytales, and rose again to look for the books she wanted. "Have you ever heard the tale of the Beauty and the Beast? It’s one of my favorites! Oh, or how about Little Red Riding Hood?" Anna continued in this fashion, listing off children’s fairytale after children’s fairytale with increased enthusiasm, half pulling out books and then pushing them back in favor of another, changing her mind again and again. It was obvious she was excited. 

-

Hans had to make a face about fairytales. He knew all about those. And the ones she continued to list off only continued to inwardly irritate him. The messages within. And, honestly, he knew he was the villain in each and every one of those stories.

He didn’t need to be reminded. He went to sit down and rested his chin in his hand, sighing and giving a forced shrug. “Whichever one you want to read, princess.” As he tapped his free hand on the table, he was slow in realizing there was a small bit of sizzling. And when he smelled the smoke he pulled back, standing quickly.

"Actually -  I should return to my room." 

Why was he  _burning through the gloves_?

No, no, no, not now. Why? Why? Panic was only making it worse.

-

Anna had some experience with this.

She calmly and carefully turned around to face him, books forgotten completely, and watched him. He was panicking- Elsa had trouble reigning her powers in not to be effected by her emotions, and even then, sometimes it still happened.

"Hey. It’s alright." she soothed, approaching him, and with her thick gloves, taking his hands. She felt nothing- he’d have to do much more than that to hurt her through these, luckily. "I’m sorry for upsetting you, I didn’t mean to, you know? I just wanted to share something that was important to me, but- I have a way of being a little … oblivious, when I’m doing something wrong." she smiled slightly.

Her eyes bore straight into his own as she spoke, soft and calm. “There’s no reason to be anything but happy right now, okay? I’ll take you back to your room if you want, but I don’t think it’s really necessary.” if he never worked through moments like these, always turned-tail and ran away from them, he’d never make any progress, Anna knew that.

-

This was why he should have requested asbestos in his gloves. It kept passing through his thoughts in the hopes he did have a better hold on his powers. But he was clearly wrong. When Anna started getting close and taking his hands, his first thought of action was to pull away, or let the fire flare up and show her how she should be afraid. But the guards were watching. They were stepping in closer, but still at a distance.

And that didn’t help his panic any either. And her talking to him like he was some unsettled war horse was just making his frustration worse. He was  _dangerous_. 

"Anna, let go. Please," he got out, voice strained while is hands were getting all the more heated. "You haven’t upset me. This has nothing to do with you." He’d like to think it didn’t. And he was half right. 

His teeth clenched and he could feel the ground under his feet start to steam while he took in a breath. Control it. Control it. Bury it in deep.

“ _Of course it’s necessary_!” he finally snapped. And there it was. The actual flare of fire from his hands, onto hers. Hans had lost control for one moment and it was hell from there. Guards already rushing over.

-

Anna had been very much expecting that, and while the pain was there, it was immensely dulled by her protective clothing. She calmly let go of his hands, and held up one gloved mitten to the guards. They paused in their movements.

"Then let’s go back." She said, simply, before turning and heading out of the library. She wasn’t going to punish him for something he couldn’t control to begin with. She wasn’t frightened, and she wasn’t angry- she was just more determined than ever.

-

Hans stared after her as she turned her back and kept walking. Like this was nothing. Why didn’t she get it? His gloves were  _gone_  now.  Definitely needed to include asbestos in the next request. But for now he was not following Anna yet, staring down at his hands and willing them as hard as he could to make them stop. And it hurt. How much he was trying to suppress. The guards were not pleased with what Anna had planned but they did not grab him as he had expected. Waiting patiently for him to eventually follow the princess.

And he did. Slowly at first when his hands were simply too warm to touch. He kept them away from his clothes so they wouldn’t burn as he finally caught up to Anna. Silent.

-

When they arrive at his cell, Anna stands in the doorway and watches him settle back in. “We’ll have new gloves for you within the hour. I’ll make sure they’re the same sort that we took from you before.” She isn’t entirely familiar with asbestos, but she knew that there was something lined in the gloves they confiscated before, and she’d make them duplicate that again if it meant helping him feel more under control.

"Is there anything else you want to say before I go?"

Anna wasn’t sure she would be returning the next day, she felt like she needed some time to figure out what it was she was expecting from Hans, what she wanted, what the hell she was  _feeling_. But she didn’t want him to think it was punishment- she just needed to get herself sorted out first. Hans wasn’t her reformation  _toy._ She wanted something from him, something she couldn’t place, and until she placed it, she had a feeling she’d be travelling this strange up-and-down road with him.

-

Hans was tense as he entered the room, studying Anna and simply giving a nod about the gloves while he brushed fingers over the skin of his hands. They felt so dry. He chewed on his bottom lip while thinking over her question and how to answer it. 

Was she looking for an apology? He grimaced. “I apologize for setting it off in the library.” In hindsight it could have been a lot worse. At least nothing actually got caught on fire.

"Also, I’d like to make a small request of a bucket of water." For his hands. As much as he feared large bodies of it, a small amount and enough of it over his hands and he’d feel a lot less stressed. "If it’s no trouble, princess…"

-

"No apology necessary. You didn’t do anything wrong." Anna smiled, genuine. "You can’t control it, it fluctuates with your emotions, and you’re a human being. So you’ll have them. It happens." she shrugged, and then glanced over her shoulder. "A bucket of water, absolutely."

She glanced at the passion flowers still there in a cluster, and then back at him.  _I still believe in you._

"Sleep well, Hans." And she left, the guards moving the door closed behind her.

That evening, Anna lay in bed again, though she hardly slept. She turned everything over and over in her head- why did she want this so badly? For Hans to get control, for him to open up to her, for him to laugh more? She couldn’t place what was driving her to do all of this, all she knew was that she had a startlingly strong desire and determination.

It came to her when she was sitting up in bed, staring at the sunrise out the window, exhausted. She didn’t have the energy to be horrified when the thought finally passed into her mind:  _I still love him. After all of this, after trying to kill my sister and I, after trying to take away my whole world and ruin everything, after learning that he can conjure fire whenever he pleases- I still love him._

She groaned loudly and curled up under her blankets, hiding from the day as though she could hide from her thoughts, hide from wondering what he was doing and thinking.

-

When Anna had left, he was tempted to knock over the table, vase and all. Frustrated more with himself than her, so he reeled it in. Let his hands flare and waited for them to stop. She hadn’t lied, though. They came with the proper gloves and he put them on gladly.

The bucket was left there for emergencies when he saw fit, but when he sat down and rubbed at his concealed hands, he couldn’t help but be bothered by the same dry itchy sensation he’d been plagued with since his return to the room.

With a heavy sigh, he removed his gloves and stared over his hands, confused, until he saw the cracks forming. Lines of red. Not blood, no, not even fire. They felt hard and smooth and they were certainly not normal. He shoved his hands into the ice cold bucket of water, watching the steam rise up and swallowing back a scream.

Because it burned. Not the kind of burn with fire. It felt like he’d just dipped himself in  _acid_. When he pulled his hands out, they were normal again. But for how long? How long? What was even happening to him?

He pulled the gloves on again and curled up on the bed, eyes to the wall, staring. Thinking. He was too terrified to sleep. And his hands were hot at his sides.

Hans was utterly thankful that Anna didn’t visit the next day. He wouldn’t have responded. Not in any good way. 


	7. The Lindworm Prince Hans

Anna slept most of her day away- and so the following, she visited later than any other time. It was evening. She didn’t have any idea what she was supposed to say or do- in fact, she stood just outside the staircase for a solid five minutes, staring at the descending flight, wondering where to go from here. 

She decided she’d just…ask him how he was doing. Ask him if he’d rather go home. She wondered if he’d be the type to give her advice on what to do in situations like these- if only she could ask him. 

Eventually she reached his cell, and stepped inside, looking toward the vase. She was surprised the flowers were intact. She leaned back against the door a little, and seemed ready to exit at a moment’s notice, and it was all very unlike the other times she’d come to see him. She looked as tired as she felt, even having slept all day yesterday.

"Good evening, Hans." she said, with what she hoped was a big smile like usual. "I hope they’ve been bringing you what you ask for. I told them- to make sure you had the water, and- and the gloves."

-

Hans was still on the bed. Hadn’t slept much at all. Dark circles were probably a lot more noticeable now. But he sat up and stood to greet her, hiding behind his own smile. Waving one hand. “Yes, they got me my gloves and the bucket of water. Thank you, princess.” 

He gave her a small bow, standing quickly before he’d stumble over. He really needed to get actual rest but the fear in his stomach was not letting him. Hands went behind him again as he awkwardly looked at her and the rest of the room, clearing his throat. 

"…how have you been?"

-

Whenever he called her simply  _Princess,_ Anna felt like it was supposed to be a pet name. An endearment, instead of her title. But she knew that was stupid, and she knew that now she was really only hearing what she wanted to hear.

"…About as well as you, if the lack of sleep is any indication." she says bluntly, clearly not about to tip-toe around the fact that she can  _see_ he’s struggling with something.

"I’m…I’ve got a problem, and it’s not leaving me alone. So. I’ve been uneasy. I don’t often find myself unable to solve my own problems." she swallowed and found that a lump was in her throat- why?

"I trust that even if I asked, you’d refuse to tell me what’s been bothering you. So I won’t." Anna was learning, at least a little. To be honest, she was just tired of Hans’ constant rejection of all of her attempts to care for him in any fashion. The most he was letting her do was give him gloves and a bucket of water.

-

Hans could sense the unease in the room. From both of them. Frustrations. He knew eventually his behavior would wear on her. Honestly, he expected it sooner. But he was a little curious what problem she was talking about.

Still, wasn’t his business. However, his own problem was a danger to everyone. Not talking about it was disastrous, but that fear of finally being recognized as a monster ate away at him.

His hands were itching again, but he couldn’t scratch at them right now. Fingers curling behind him. “I am sorry about your…problem. You can talk about it if you like,” he offered, tiredly shrugging his shoulders. “I might…share mine.” But did he really plan on it? For now he was just trying to keep things calm. Figuring that was the best method. 

-

Anna hesitated, but she was always too trusting, too gullible, and honestly, she didn’t see that she had a ton to lose right now.

"I met someone," she doesn’t want this to be too obvious, so she tries her best to fudge the truth without outright lying. "And I thought that when he and I…parted ways," she could totally be talking about Kristoff here, right? Yeah! Parted ways could be taken literally or metaphorically. "That my feelings for him were gone. But they’re not. They’re not, and it’s getting more impossible every moment to ignore that they’re still here. He’s gone. He’s not going to change his mind about me. But - I may have a chance, coming up soon, to see him again, and to - " she puffed out a little breath of air and folded her arms under her thick cloak, apparently giving up on herself.

"See, it’s dumb. A petty problem."

-

Hans listened and took a seat in the chair at the table,  arms crossed over his chest. He raised an eyebrow and was already making the connection with Kristoff. Not that he even knew the man’s name. Simply that she had been interested in that ice harvester.

"Love is a painful thing. It has it’s good and it’s bad. The heart doesn’t always do what you want it to do. I’m sure when you see him again, you two will work things out. To at least be friends, right?"

He shrugged his shoulders. He doubted he was helping much, and unaware of the hypothetical situation being about him and Anna. 

Of course Hans left out his current issues, hoping Anna forgot that and would just take his advice and go.

-

Anna wanted badly to ask the real question- have you ever been in love?- but she was certain of the answer already. She refrained, and instead, went to divert the conversation to him.

"Well. I don’t know if friendship is- possible. He can be a little … difficult. Anyway." she waved her hand in front of her face, and then re-crossed her arms. "What’s going on with you?"

-

Hans looked back at her again when she asked. Silently wishing she would just let things go. But he knew that just wasn’t something in her nature. How to word it, though? Without getting himself into more trouble?

He absently started scratching under one of the gloves with a quiet twinge of pain before he bothered to answer. “My… _condition_  is getting worse.” Short and simple. He let out a breath. Maybe there was a little smoke there. He tried not to think about that.

-

"Worse." Anna repeated, and then frowned. "I guess you’re not interested in elaborating, or else you already would have. If there’s anything we can do, let us know. …We’re not going to make life  _worse_ for you. I hope you know that’s not what anyone wanted.”

She fears suddenly that he resents her, for saving him from execution in both her kingdom and his. What if he thinks he’s better off  _dead_ than here?!

"I mean, I know I’m not exactly someone you  _enjoy_ spending time with, but I’d like to think it’s a little better than being six feet under.” 

-

He just gave her a very tired look before running a hand down his face with a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment and letting his fingers brush his bangs back. 

"As much as I  _hated_  it over there, I know why they did what they did.” More to himself than her. He sat up with sharp intake of breath before he looked at her. Really looked at her. “I’ll need more water. It…puts it out for a time.”

The itching was starting up again and he hissed, gripping his hand and resisting the urge to pull off that glove and scratch until it stopped, but he knew it wouldn’t. And he didn’t need Anna see what was happening.

"I am grateful you spared my life, Anna, but you’re all just putting your own in danger."

-

"You’re as dangerous as Elsa ever was." Anna says gently, "I was never afraid of her, and I’m not afraid of you, either. You can both do some beautiful things, if you want to. Of course there’s always the capability, the potential to harm, but…" she shrugged. 

"We’ll get you more water. I’ll ask them to check regularly, maybe give you a larger basin." a little pause. "Do you think it…might help, if you- let some of it go?" she wasn’t sure how Hans would react to the idea, so she was cautious about it. "Give you small things to burn in a conditioned environment like this one, and maybe that will take some of the energy off."

-

He wanted to laugh. More so out of bitterness than any sort of joy but he held it in. Swallowed it down as he turned to look at the collection of flowers in the vase. He wanted to show her just how “beautiful” his fire could be. 

And he did, wordlessly removing a glove and barely pressing a finger to the petal. And one by one they all engulfed into flame until it was all ash in the water. The whole time his expression was blank, the remaining flames shadowing his face before it was all gone and he pulled his glove back on. Before she could see the clumps of red patches of non-human skin.

"That isn’t beautiful, Anna. It is for a minute until all that’s left is  _death_.”

He rubbed at his eyes. “As for your answer, no. I do not want to be given things to burn. That doesn’t help me at all.”

-

Anna watched him burn her flowers, and hurt washed over her face. He was being purposefully cruel, she knew, to demonstrate his point. To explain that he couldn’t see any good that might come from his abilities.

"I don’t agree with you." was all she said, but she was tight-lipped, obviously holding something back that was very hard to control. It was so unlike her to have to hold anything back at all, she was a very free and open person. "I don’t think all you’re capable of is damage and disaster, Hans. But I can lead you to water all I want, I can’t make you drink." 

Anna pressed her hand to the door behind her.

"I just - want you to let me  _in._ " it was barely audible, and when she realized she said it, floods of memories came rushing back- ones she just didn’t want to deal with, not in front of him, not now. So, without looking back, she left again.

The rest of the evening, Anna spent in the library, searching and re-searching book after book to see what she could find out about Hans’ abilities.

-

Of course she didn’t agree with him, no matter how many times he proved to her she was wrong.  But he watched her leave without comment, jaw set and his fingers curled into his palms. When the door was shut, he stared back at the now empty vase. But there still remained the single flower he had kept in that cup. Still lively. The one Anna had put behind his ear.

There was guilt in his eyes a moment but he turned away from the table, hands through his hair again as he paced. He silently stared at the servant who came in to bring the basin of water in. Hans crossed his arms, chewing at his lip as he thought over what Anna said. 

 _Let her in_? He couldn’t even be truthful with himself, to listen to his own feelings to bother letting someone else in this mess. And it was getting worse. Pulling the gloves off again, he watched the heat wave surrounding them the further patches of red spreading.

But when he put them in the water, he couldn’t hold back the scream of agony that ripped through him. Guards were quick to push the door open and ready their weapons in a heartbeat but Hans was curled on the floor, gripping his hands as the basin was knocked over, boiling water spilling the floor. His hands didn’t look human anymore, not with the skin peeled away to show the ruby scales. The tips of fingers nothing but black claws. 

Soon the guards simply stepped back outside to seal the door and guard it, while another went to inform the queen things were looking to be far more dangerous. And if Anna had heard the scream and decided to return, well, they’d do their best to keep her out of the room. It was just far too dangerous - but orders were orders when it came down to it. 

-

Anna had been in the library, had not heard the scream when it happened- but had heard the guards running, chattering. Hans. She shut the book in her hands and took it with her, rushing to the dungeons.

"I  _order you_  to let me  _pass!_ " She shouted, and they only defied her once before she had to state her royal lineage and declare it a direct command. They parted, and Anna ripped open the door to Hans’ cell all on her own, purely on adrenaline. 

"Hans!"

Tucked under her arm was the story of the lindworm prince, and tucked into her head was the hope that she could be  _useful_ , for once in her life.

-

Hans was curled in on himself, clothes half torn to pieces as his body grew and shifted. Human skin being shed like a snake when wings burst out of his back, smoke and embers swirling around him as he howled in pain, claws scraping into the ground and creating steam as it cracked the floor beneath him again.

His tail knocked a leg from under the table, making it crash as he scrambled and tried to get away, guards surrounding Anna for protection when the dragon turned around and opened his mouth to spit fire. Threatened, in pain and terrified. Hans was barely thinking straight.

Shields could only do so much. “Your highness, we must ask you to leave!”

-

"A-absolutely not!" Anna shouted, shoving them aside a little, and swallowing a tight hot lump in her throat. "It’s still Hans, he’s just-" Anna had no idea where that sentence was supposed to be going, but she just tried to get the guards to push behind her, to stand down.

Luckily, Anna had been smart enough to keep her cloak on- not her mittens, but the cloak covered her from shoulder to ankle quite completely. She knew that against a full-frontal  _dragon_ flame, it might not do much to help her, but she felt a bit better with it on.

"Hans! Hans, it’s alright, we’re- we’re not going to hurt you! We don’t even want to _touch_ you, just- please! Calm down!”

-

When the guards were forced to back up and Anna in front, Hans watched them both with his eyes. Still startlingly human. For now. He blinked and glanced around the room at the mess he’d made. The torn clothes, the spilled basin, the broken table and the scorched floor.

When he took a moment to look at his hands, he saw the ruby scales and felt the panic rise again. Calm down? Calm down? He gave another burst of flame from his mouth but it was more out of shock than anything. It didn’t even get far before he cut it off, keeping in the corner and heaving, smoke coiling out of his mouth as he collapsed. He was far too exhausted to do much else. Lack of sleep and the whole transformation having taken a lot out of him already.

And it was hardly easy to get used to a body like this. His wings were more than half his size and were heavy as could be. “…told you…I…” he wheezed out. So he could still speak. But there were growls hidden behind each syllable. “…monster.”

-

Anna shook her head. “You’re not a monster- you’re a man with a curse- a curse that you  _can control_ , Hans. It’s okay, it’s going to be okay, I just want- you to be okay.” she blinked, and the guards did not falter in their stance, but Anna took one step forward- only one. 

"I have something to show you. But first, you need to go to sleep, alright? You’re very, very tired. It’s contributing to this." she gestures to- well, to all of him. "Okay?"

-

Hans closed his eyes for a moment before he cracked open one to keep on Anna. Glancing at the book under her arm.  What could possibly fix this? He was beyond able to pretend to control this. If he had been in the Southern Isles, he would have long since been dead by now.

And here, they had all the more reason to kill him but didn’t.

"Okay…" He took in a deep breath, chest rising and wings slowly pulling in against him while he attempted to rest. He doubted he could get any sleep at all, but his body wasn’t about to let him do much else.

He honestly expected to wake up being in a proper dungeon and chains around his feet and neck. But he also expected Anna to make sure that didn’t happen. Foolish girl.

-

Sure enough, there was no such thing. Anna herself had taken to straightening the cell he was already in, and to her delight, found a single passion flower had survived it all. She gave it a new vase, and sat back against the brick wall door with the heavy tomb clutched in her arms as she waited for him to wait.

She read it over six, seven times, as he slumbered- and the guards, weary and nervous, were forced to always remain behind Anna- they could only go just a bit less than she ever did.

-

He woke up with a quiet, raspy groan, a plume of smoke escaping his mouth as he coughed and felt his muscles ache after the whole transformation. He knew he was still the beast he always feared he was, let himself become, and kept to the ground when he turned his head to see Anna in the room.

Hans couldn’t suppress the growl deep in his throat, eyes a little less human. But still as green. He glanced up at the passion flower on the fixed table and the growl slowly died. But he didn’t say anything.

Just what did she have planned? Were there spells in that book? He had to snort at that thought. 

-

Anna was sleepy- very sleepy, but there she was, awake, and watching him as he roused. When she saw his green eyes fix on her, she gave a smile. “Afternoon, Hans.” she greeted, like it was any other day. She opened up the book in her lap, and looked down at the now-heavily-worn pages inside.

"I found this book in the library- have you ever heard of it? The Lindworm Prince*." she had familiarized herself enough with the text now that she wondered if there were other interpretations of this legend; she didn’t doubt it, and maybe those would have a proper description of Hans’ capabilities beyond…this.

-

"I’m not a lindworm," Hans muttered before pushing himself off of his belly,  scales shimmering against what little light was in the room. It must have been late. How long had she been here, how long had he been asleep?

"But humor me, why do you think it’s relevant?" He snuffed and sat on his haunches a little awkwardly, but he managed. Tail awkwardly curling around. He kept his eyes narrowed on Anna. "It’s not one of those ‘beauty and the beast’ tales, is it?" He blew smoke out of his nose.

They both knew there was no true love here.

Right?

-

Anna’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the edges of the book and stared at the text fixedly, refusing to look at him. It wasn’t out of any kind of fear; it was frustration. 

"Just- just  _listen_ for once,  _listen_ to me.”

And she recited the tale, from start to finish, her voice trying to sound somewhat normal throughout, though there were bits where her throat died off into a crack and she had to clear it to continue. She was warm, and she was exhausted, and she was worried that Hans wouldn’t see it, that he was really  _this_ blind- she was lonely, and lost, and felt more like a useless girl the longer this went on.

When the story ended, and the prince had regained his form in the book, she shut it and looked up at Hans. “I want you to believe that you are not a  _monster,_ Hans. I know you’re going to get mad, you’re going to get so angry at me, for telling you that I don’t think you are, even when you look like this- but I- I believe you’re so much more than what you’ve done, Hans, I believe in you.” She glanced at the passion flower on the table. That was what it meant.

"I just wish you would believe in you, too. Just a little. Maybe just because I do?" she sounded overly hopeful. She hugged her knees into her chest and glanced down at the book to her right. She wondered if she might die if he grew furious enough to engulf her in flames, or lash out at her with his teeth or tail- and frighteningly, these things did not phase her.

-

Hans begrudgingly listened to her little fairytale. The room was getting hotter, he was sure. It made no difference to him, but she was looking increasingly more uncomfortable. Yet here she was, still here and still refusing to see the worst in this.

And yes, he was angry. Angry with her for being so stupidly naive. Always. He should have destroyed that last flower, what was even the point of keeping it? Giving her impossible hope that there was anything good out of this. ” This isn’t a  _fairytale_ , Anna!” He let his wings spread out, making him look larger than he was, which still wasn’t small by any means, as he came towards her slowly, fangs barred as his lips pulled back in a snarl. She should be afraid.

"There is no happy ending here. Stop thinking I’m anything else other than what I am!" The floor was getting hotter from his exertion of energies, and he was breathing heavily. Eyes slits as his face was inches from her. His scales, if touched by human hands, would probably burn if held onto for too long. If he was calmer, it wouldn’t have been so dangerous. 

-

That was the final straw for Anna. She’d had it. Being kind hadn’t work, nor had being patient, or subtle. She was through being a pancake, flopping over and over and over. Hans wasn’t going to listen to her unless she  _made_ him. So, she did.

She finally, slowly, drew herself up to stand, and with a scowl, she let everything just… _go._

"You call me a fool? The bigger moron here is  _you,_ Hans. ” she hissed. “Because who so viciously and actively  _ignores love_ like you do? Who jumps so long and so far that the mere thought, the  _idea_ of someone finding you worthwhile and special, isn’t even in your realm of possibility?” She doesn’t reach out to touch him, but she’s aching for it.

"I want you to be happy, I want to help you find that happiness, I want to help you, because I  _love you_ , you wretched creature!” her voice finally picks up in volume, as hot tears prick the edges of her eyes. “Spending time with you still makes me feel better than good, and I want to see you succeed. I want to help you! I want to - I want to have a future that includes you in it! How have you ignored that?! How have you blocked it out?!”

-

Her finally yelling at him was bound to happen but it still caught him by surprise. Hans stepped back, shutting his mouth and closing his wings while he stared at her in confusion, brow ridges raised. “What-“

But she was still yelling and yes, he heard her, and it was starting to piece together. Why she was being so hopelessly stubborn and sure this would work. She still _loved_  him, after everything? He shook his head, turning himself around with a growl. How would she even know what love is? That kind of love? This wasn’t like with his sister - 

What did he know of love? At all? Anna was impossible - impossibly good, innocent. She was just opening herself for further disappointments and heartbreak. Her tears still appeared in his mind while he looked away. 

Was his heart as frozen as she had called it before? Ignoring love when it was right in front of him? He was made of fire and he couldn’t even bother to melt it away.

"Anna…how _can_  you want that at all? Knowing what I am, what I’ve done and wanted to do? I left you to  _die_.” He cracked his tail against the brick, leaving cracks of magma for only a brief moment before he struggled to keep it contained. He snarled towards her, eyes flashing with the flames escaping between his fangs. “Stop.” He trudged closer again, one paw up to reach and shove her down, head looming over her with the fire still there, a warning. “Believing in me.”  

He could scorch her face right then and there. It wasn’t protected. But he didn’t. He just stared, claws digging into the fire resistant cloak. Breathing hard before he pressed crest of his forehead to hers. But it wasn’t as hot as it should have been.

"I don’t…deserve it…"

-

Anna was, frankly, amazed that she didn’t feel any fear. Even as she was pressed down, she didn’t worry for her safety. She soon heard him telling her to stop believing in him, that he didn’t….deserve it…

Anna shut her eyes as their foreheads met and took deep, calming breaths, even as little tears dried on his face. “Yes, you do, Hans- you’ve done terrible things. I know. It’s not like you forget about that- but- the past is in the past. And you deserve love, as much as anyone else.”

Her eyes opened again and she reached up, replacing her forehead with her lips, as she trusted it was a tolerant spot. It didn’t burn her- sure, it was pretty hot- but she wasn’t injured. She kissed his forehead, and then looked to him again. “There’s beauty in fire, in heat- you just need to learn how to use it, before you can see it.”

-

The press of lips to his forehead was the last thing he was expecting. That brief kiss, leaving her unharmed even in the heat radiating off the scales, struck something inside him. As she spoke, scales dropped and crumbled to ash around the area her lips had meant, until everything began to fall apart.

Human again while he’d subconsciously found a balance, temporary or not. There now rested a hand against her chest, and Hans was quick to pull away, to remove himself when it was clearly so very, very inappropriate. The guards were _right outside_.

"Sorry - sorry, I’m  _so sorry_ -“

Didn’t help that he was disoriented after that sudden change, _and_  naked. Heat radiated in his face while he  scrambled and  yanked a sheet off the bed to cover himself. He tried to wrap his head around what just happened, praying he didn’t set the sheets on fire. He was rather drenched in sweat, hair sticking to his forehead as he breathed in and out.

-

Anna blinked wildly as he seemed to completely crumble away- and then as his hand was on her chest, and whoa, he was naked.

She rushed to cover her own eyes, and her cheeks glowed a brilliant red, but she couldn’t help from smiling. “It’s alright! How did you know you were going to uh, poof, back to human?” she peeked through her fingers after most of his movement was done, and saw that he was wrapped in a sheet. She removed her hand and looked at him, frowning.

"Here, let’s-" she stood up, straightened herself out, and turned to open the door. Guards practically jumped on her, and she had to quell their concern, telling them that the beast was gone, and only Hans was left for now.

"I need another basin of water, and plenty of towels. Lots of them." the guards all looked nervous to leave, and several of them stayed while two went to fetch what she asked for.

She turned back around and looked down at Hans on the floor, frowning. “I don’t know how water will react with you- the guards said it seemed to hurt you before, not sure if it’ll be any different now. But you need to be cleaned up either way.”

-

Hans suppressed some of his shivering, as if he’d come down with a fever. But it would go away soon enough. He hoped. It wasn’t like he was experienced with this at all. He’d never changed species twice in one day. Or ever.

He swallowed thickly and wiped his face against the sheet. “I think I should be fine…the water only started hurting when my skin was…cracking apart.” He cringed at the memory. His throat felt sore. Dry. Drinking a good bit of water wouldn’t hurt either.

He was having a hard time looking at Anna, in all honesty. But at least the heat in his face was calming down.

-

Anna just stood there, but before she could fill awkward silence, the basin and towels were brought. The small table she had righted while he had slept still had his cup on it, and she approached him with the basin of water, the cup, and the towels, sitting down in front of him on her knees and scooping water up out of the basin with the cup, handing it to him.

Once taken, she dipped a towel into the water, and gently slid it over his forehead, smoothing his hair back with her free hand and trying to make him look like he hadn’t just transformed into a damn  _dragon_  thing.

"As frightening as all that was for you, I’m sure, I have to say, you make a magnificent creature." she grinned, dipping the cloth back into the water, ringing it out so it wouldn’t be quite as cold, and continuing on to wipe down his neck and face. 

-

Hans kept a delicate hold on the cup, trying not to heat up the water with his still too-hot skin. But he was cooling off somewhat. Drinking helped. When Anna went to wash at his face, he tried not to flinch away. Relieved when his skin didn’t sizzle in contact with the damp towel. 

"Many wouldn’t call it that," Hans muttered, coughing a little before he finished off the water left in the cup and closing his eyes tiredly a moment. He leaned a little into the comfort of the towel as Anna continued.

-

"Good thing I’m Anna, not many, right?" She grinned, as she finished with his face and moved to the back of his neck, then up behind his ears. Without thinking, she went to brush the towel over his chest- but she caught herself in time, and shyly dropped the towel back into the basin, leaning back somewhat.

"Well. I suppose I don’t have to worry about whether or not I should tell you how I feel anymore." she frowned. "Although I guess I never really expected to have to tell it to a _dragon_ , so at least it was a memorable way to make a fool out of myself…”

-

He opened his eyes again and flicked his eyes back up at Anna, brows knitting together while he seemed to struggle with something. Things were…as close as fine as they could get for him right now, but there was no telling when something like that could happen again. 

Hans wasn’t so convinced he could control it in the way Anna hoped he would, and the whole love thing - sure, the kiss had shattered the dragon’s form, but… he still had trouble wrapping his head around the fact she had these feelings for him _still_. After everything. He didn’t dare ask his own feelings, not right now.

And besides, what if Elsa discovered this tidbit of information? She’d think he was plotting something again, and maybe he  _was_  quietly thinking of how to use Anna’s love to his advantage. But no, he had to shut that part out for now.

"You didn’t throw a tantrum, Anna," Hans answered dryly, snorting at himself and pulling the sheet a little closer over himself. He reached for the gloves laid out on the couch, the only article of clothing that he hadn’t destroyed during all of that. He went to quietly put them on just in case. "…could probably use some clothes." 

-

"Right. Of course." She stood up, sort of looking around, as though searching for anything she had left to do. "Well. I’ll leave you be, now…" She didn’t know where she stood now. He sort of completely tip-toed around everything that was standing, tall and broad, in the middle of the room.

Oh well, what did she expect?

Rubbing her right eye sleepily, she exited the cell, unsure whether or not she should return the following day- but she certainly needed to sleep now. She had purposefully left the book with him, as she could recite it from memory by this time, and she went straight to bed.

-

"Goodnight-"  He watched the door close, having waited a bit too long to say anything. "…Anna." He sighed and ran fingers through his hair and let his bangs fall right back into place before he stood and went to sit back on the bed.

Eventually a servant dropped in a new set of clothes for him and after he dressed, he fell back into bed with a groan.  Hans could try to avoid all of this if he tried, but was it even worth it? She had clearly helped that incident. Maybe he could - maybe the fire could be controlled. Not his way, but hers. 

But he’d have to sleep on it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The Lindworm Prince is a tale about a Lindworm most gruesome and monstrous, who is vanquished by a girl and returned to a handsome Prince. You can read the tale here: http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Norwegian_folktale_3.html


	8. Training Fireworks

Anna slept a long, long time the next day, and was chastised gently for sleeping so often. This was the second time she’d slept through a day since Hans had been imprisoned here. Ignoring the general scolding, she had high spirits; it was a relief, a certain emotional weight had been lifted, when she told Hans how she felt. 

So when she entered his cell, she was a lot less timid than she had been. “Good afternoon, Hans.” her smile was back to genuine feeling.

-

Hans had thought over the other day a lot in his room, on what to do. What to say. He still didn’t have a good handle on his thoughts, let alone emotions. It was easy to pretend, but the possibility of it being real? 

He didn’t know how much Anna would even believe him, but she seemed to have let go of the past. He’d been chewing on his bottom lip and rubbing at his hand absently before he heard her voice.

Quick to stand, he offered a proper bow. “Good afternoon, Princess Anna.” A bit of nervousness was tight in his chest but he did his best not to show it. Her smile was a bit of a comfort, though. He needed to say something more appropriate - to show her his intents. But it was hard to let it go, just like that. He was silent for several minutes before finally speaking up.

"So, I’ve been thinking…" 

-

"What a dangerous thing to do." She smirked, hands sliding playfully behind her back as she circled to the passion flower  _still_ remaining, alive, in the vase. It warmed her heart.

"What have you been thinking, Hans?"

-

He followed her with his eyes and saw the passion flower as she looked at it. His chest hurt for a moment but he relaxed. There was nothing to be upset about right now. Things were…already better than they’d ever been before.

Hans fought the urge to clasp his hands behind his back and rubbed idly at his left wrist while he gave a light laugh. “Yes, well…I’ve considered accepting your offer on overseeing my attempts at learning my…abilities.”

He was being a bit wordy on purpose, to hide his nervousness. To sound proper and refined - not anxious. “If that is - if it’s, of course, all right with the Queen.”

-

Anna looked at once disbelieving, and then overjoyed. “Wh-what? Really? Wait- you- yeah?” She made a few wild gestures, and then practically leapt forward, going to take his hands in her own, but stopping, and instead awkwardly patting his arm.

"Of course! Of course, yeah, okay! We can get started right away- there’s a big, almost-empty room on the East side of the castle, it used to be used for storage, but, we got rid of nearly everything. I’m sure we can get the guards to move whatever’s left for us!" with that, she was opening the cell door and eagerly bounding out, waiting impatiently for him to follow.

_-_

Hans was already prepared for her jovial reaction so her reach for his hands didn’t go unnoticed. But he was rather glad she just stuck with patting his arm for now. He smiled and watched her skip off as she talked. Himself unable to get a word out edgewise but that was fine.

He had nothing to argue about for now. So he went to catch up with her, shaking his head and hoping he didn’t make a terrible choice. For once, though, he’d trust her judgment on this. And see how it would go.

"You’re sure this won’t be a problem?"

-

"No, not at all!" Anna grinned, making a long-thought decision to loop her arm in his, less of a royal position and more of a casual, loose movement. To be physically reassuring.

"I’m happy you’ve agreed to this, I think it’ll be really good for you in the long run! And I’m kind of excited to see." She was visibly bouncy, even her footsteps had a rhythm, and guards were coming toward them, telling Anna the room was prepared.

A short walk later, around a few corners, they appeared before two heavy doors, and inside was purely a simple, empty room, with only two small windows that had no curtains.

"Well! Here we are." she let go of his arm at last and moved ahead of him, twirling around in the center of the room and holding her arms wide apart. "Your practice room!"

-

He surveyed the room, brows raised while he folded his arms and looked back at Anna. She was far more excited than he was, but that was to be expected. Hans had to hold back a laugh, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I have to say it does look like a good practice room." He unfolded his arms to glance down at his hands, his expression more serious. Worried. He still had his gloves on and he’d have to take them off to do anything. But he still had doubt about this. 

How to even begin with this?

-

Anna nodded, and then stepped back to stand side-by-side with him. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” she adds.

"Maybe you should just start with- something simple. Something comfortable." She doesn’t even really know if he has anything he’s comfortable with in regards to his abilities- but she hopes he hasn’t completely repressed everything.

-

Hans turned his head to look at her, fingers curling for a moment before he simply nodded and went to remove at least one of the gloves for now. He could feel the heat under his skin, through it. Alive. He had suppressed it for so long, he wasn’t sure how he could even will it gladly and have it work.

It always came with fear or anger. Not since he was a very small boy did the fire come at will with a smile.

But there was a tiny bit of a spark there. Hovering above his palm. Hans watched it try to grow, willed it with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. It was still small, but it resembled a candle’s flame. And it might have looked like it was dancing a bit as it flickered. 

When he went to glance back at Anna, he quickly snuffed it out. “Maybe you shouldn’t be standing so close…”

-

Anna was thrilled the moment he conjured the flame. She had never seen anything as magical as Elsa’s snow, but here Hans was, the polar opposite- and Anna was struck again; he was still very handsome. She could remember him dancing with her that night all over again, and her heart began to pound. The flame danced and flickered, and only when he spoke to her did she snap to.

She gave a slow roll of her eyes, but did take a few steps away from him. “Alright, since I’m sure you’d be more relaxed, I won’t get too close. But you’re doing good!” she grinned, and slipped a bit further off, leaning back against the wall nearest a window, watching him kind of intently.

Hans watched her critically until she was by the window. He supposed that was a safe distance. It would do. With a nod more to himself than her, he removed the other glove and set them aside to focus.

A deep intake of breath. Flexing his fingers and working on staying calm. Fire didn’t always come from bad emotions, right? Fire kept people warm during harsh winter storms, shown light in the dark when one would haven ever found their way out without it. He recognized some of the good.

But they didn’t outweigh the bad. And that was blocking him. Making it hard for him to accept it.  However, the room was still growing hotter. Heat came off of him in waves. Hans frowned and concentrated, trying to keep it in and just focus it in his hands. 

A flame appeared again and he watched it warily before studying his other hand to to start up the flame there. Two flames at once, which was probably a bit much given his hesitancy, but he was trying. And held them back from getting too large. 

One of them started to ball up and give off a crackle pop sort of sound until it exploded into tiny little embers. He flinched at first but when the other did the same, he just sort of raised an eyebrow. Like tiny little fire works. How did he even do that?

"…that happened." And it was weird.

-

Anna had both hands clasped tightly together under her cloak near her chest, and she thought her heartbeat must be audible by now. It was exciting to see him do things with fire- maybe the danger was even a little bit part of that.

"Ooh!" She beamed, nearly bouncing on her balls of her feet. "That was gorgeous! Oh, you should try to do it again." she encouraged. Maybe she was being a bit over the top, but she didn’t feel like it. It was a huge accomplishment in her eyes, that he was even making the effort to try.

-

"Well, I - it was sort of an accident." Hans frowned, unsure if he could do it again but her ever present optimism at least pushed him to try to repeat it. At least she wasn’t telling him to stop, which was a huge contrast from his past.

Others would always see it as something horrible. Anna was honestly the first to ever see it differently, and it was going to take some getting used to but - it was helping. 

"But okay, here goes nothing…"

So he focused on his hands again and let the small balls of flames form again, a little larger this time and before they exploded in that crackle of color, he tried to toss them up, shielding his eyes a bit when the lights flashed. 

Sort of reminded him of the old celebrations outside the castle when he had a window to look out of. Ceremonies he’d never been a part of for half of his life. But he remembered them being in different colors rather than just the orange-yellow of his flames. He wondered if he could…change that. Eventually. 

-

Anna couldn’t help it- she outright clapped, now, with elation dancing all over her face. “Hans! That’s beautiful, that’s so neat!” she hoped that he was considering this a successful and productive first practice, because she definitely was. “I think this is a wonderful start, don’t you?”

She approached him without thinking, and only stopped a couple feet away. “Once more, maybe? Just for good measure?”

She wanted to see, more than the flames, Hans recognize that what he was doing was good. That he was progressing, that he was learning, and that he didn’t have to be a monster. 

-

Hans knew getting too over eager could end badly. Anna meant well, but he wasn’t sure he should - he was still unsure if he could keep it safe. They did seem to be getting bigger. But that may have been because of his growing anxiousness.

Still, he put on that smile of his, to show he appreciated her support even though it made him fear disappointing her even more. “I’ll give it another shot.” 

And as a single hand created a flaming sphere, he tossed it into the air again, expecting it to explode as the others, only that when it did, it was more than just a crackle of embers. It shaped itself into the form of a hawk-sized bird, which went to dive towards them, flapping embers and smoke behind it.

Hans’ eyes widened and he  was about to block his own face, expecting it to attack him, but it was directing itself at the _princess_. He turned quickly, but he couldn’t have felt slower as he shot out another blast of fire from his hand that struck the “bird” until it dispersed against the wall, landing on his knees after that force. 

That was. 

That was too close.

What had he told her? He was  _dangerous_. How could it ever be safe to do this. But he couldn’t even say anything, arms shaking at his sides as he kept his hands against the floor as he tried to regain his bearing. 

-

Any residual sparks or embers that might have had the chance to hurt Anna were deflected due to her cloak, and she was indeed leaning back and wincing, but when she saw the bird disperse, she calmed. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush, her heart was indeed pounding, but- she was fine! And so in her eyes,  all was well.

However, when she saw Hans on the floor, she immediately knelt down beside him and touched her hand- very gently- to his shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright- it’s alright, look, I’m fine. We’re fine. You did wonderfully.” and she meant that. “I know that’s not what you wanted to happen, but you thought on your feet! You were able to stop it.”  she removed her hand and swallowed tightly. God, she hoped he didn’t lash out at her, or fall back into that put of self-doubt and loathing.

"And I have my special cloak on anyway, Hans, I would’ve been okay." Maybe.

-

Hans was still in a small bit of shock that he didn’t notice the hand on his shoulder for a moment, or really heard Anna until he closed his eyes and took in a breath. Looking momentarily pained before he sat up and reached for the gloves on the floor to slip them back on silently before he finally spoke up.

"I think that’s enough fire for today." His voice was calm, but restrained, as he pulled himself up to his feet and brushed himself off. "I’m glad you’re not hurt, princess." Barely letting himself make eye contact as he spoke.

He was taking this surprisingly well- she was impressed. She stood up and just nodded, leading him out of the room, and once they were down the hall a ways-

"Well. I think you did some gorgeous fireworks." she commented, as she opened his cell door and walked inside after him, wanting to say goodbye, at the very least, before she had to go forward with the rest of the afternoon.

-

Hans turned to look at her a moment before following her inside the cell. “Thank you.” He didn’t want to express to her how terrifying that whole incident was. Didn’t have it in him to upset her or show he was weak. She’d seen enough of that already.

So he kept that calm facade, that attitude he carried to hide behind to make his family happy. There were no problems here. Let Anna believe there was progress - and maybe there was, as small as he thought they were. 

"Perhaps same time tomorrow?"

-

"Same time tomorrow!" Anna chirped, content and pleased to leave him as she thought he was recovering.

When his cell shuts, Anna finds herself shivering a little bit despite her cloak. It was…rather cold, without Hans beside her.

-

When he was finally alone, Hans sat down with a near stumble and shook in his own way while he tried to figure out what went wrong. Of course it had never happened before, his powers were always so suppressed and when he’d ever used them, he tried to forget about it.

He supposed that while Elsa could make snowmen, he created…birds of flame? Or was there more to that? Hans wasn’t sure he wanted to understand it, or learn it. But if he was to get anywhere with this, to - to -

To make sure Anna didn’t do all of this for him in vain. 

So he slipped off his gloves and kept the room dark as he breathed in and out. Concentrating. The flame in his hand started small. Stayed small. But he willed it to become something more, change its shape. It became a small bird, barely flying out of his palm before it turned to smoke.

He closed his hand and sighed. He wasn’t going to get much sleep that night. But this was…a start.


	9. Checkmate

The following day, Anna woke to more gorgeous Spring weather. As she dressed, she thought of whether or not Hans would enjoy being outdoors as much as she always longed to- but upon later reflection, found herself dismissing the idea entirely. She wasn’t used to being out in the open, and that was unique to her upbringing- so she was sure nobody else really felt as thrilled as she did about being outside.

That small bit of thought lead her to another- Hans didn’t just come from the womb planning to be a ‘bad guy’- he had to have been conditioned that way, by something, or someone. Troubled by this idea, Anna made her way back down to the dungeons, and with her heavy cloak weighing almost as heavy as her thoughts, she entered his cell.

Seeing him, however, lifted her mood exponentially, and she was grinning her usual bright grin. “Good morning, Hans.”

-

While he’d only managed a few hours of sleep, Hans was up and making a conscience effort to come off as fine. He gave a proper bow at her entrance. “Good morning, Princess Anna.” The usual greeting. 

He’d hoped his quiet practice in the middle of the night would come in handy now. If it even helped at all. Probably didn’t help that he was still a bit tired.

-

It struck her, then, that she had never once asked Hans what they fed him in there.

"Hans, can- I ask you something, before we get along?" she frowned, crossing her arms under her cloak again. She was coming to realize that she did that quite a lot. "What are they feeding you in here?"

He looked a little skinnier than she remembered him, now that she thought about it.

-

Hans gave her a mildly confused look but motioned for her to ask away. At the mention of food, he folded his arms and shrugged. “I’m assuming leftover food from the dining hall. It’s still good - don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind it.”

He just didn’t have the stomach for a lot of things lately. It wasn’t the food that was the problem. He’d rarely finish a plate the last week and a half. Which he knew was bad and he was working on that. 

-

"Oh. Well, as long as it’s not- you know- bad." She shrugged nervously. "I was just going to ask if you wanted to have breakfast first. Since I haven’t eaten- and I really should have, but-"  _But I was excited to see you. But you’re one of my favorite parts of the day. But I don’t like eating alone._

She cleared her throat. “I can wait, though! I can totally wait, haha, yeah- pff, no big deal. We can get to practice right away!”

-

Hans raised his hands with a soft airy sort of laugh. “It’s all right. I’d be honored to have breakfast with you. It’s not a good idea to skip meals, anyway.”

Of course he’d have to make himself eat in front of her but there were worse things he could be made to do, in all honesty. And if he expected to get any better at his fire, practicing on an empty stomach probably wouldn’t be the best idea.

-

Anna swallowed the tightness in her throat and smiled too wide, nodding. She tried to be calm as she lead him out of the dungeon and to the dining hall. A place was set for her, but not for him, and she rectified this simply by walking inside. Without a word several servants came with a second setting, and Anna approached her chair. 

"I hope you eat the same- well, of course you do, it’s not like the Southern Isles are much different- and you’ve been eating this stuff for a while, haha, so-" Anna was clearly quite nervous, and not for a reason she could place. She sat down when her chair was pulled out, and frowned a little bit when nobody moved to pull Hans’. It was moved right away.

-

Hans was about to move his own chair when one of the servants finally moved to do it for him. He tried not to roll his eyes before he sat down to join Anna, hesitating to pick up a fork. It all looked nice, smelled nice, but -

He set his stupid thoughts aside and smiled a little at Anna. “It looks great.” Eventually he made himself eat. And it didn’t taste bad at all. Thankfully it settled his stomach for now. 

"Not that it’s any of my business," Hans said eventually, clearing his throat, "But has there ever been, uh, word from…the Southern Isles? Anyone ask about me?" At all? Or had they finally forgotten about him and pretended their freak of a son, brother, never existed? It wouldn’t be the first time for a few of them.

-

"Oh, erm," Anna hesitated, and then shook her head. "No, actually. We… _we_ contacted them, and they didn’t send back.” She felt incredibly bad about that, quite suddenly. If he hadn’t asked, she’d probably not have felt quite so guilty. She wasn’t sure why it was guilt, really, but it was probably mixed with a little pity, too.

"I’m sure they’re just- busy. Probably trying to muddle through without their son and brother- it’s pretty hard." she gives a hopeful little smile, and goes into eating again. Not that she has much of an appetite anymore, but she does continue.

-

Hans paused in his slicing and glanced up, keeping his expression as unreadable as possible. They never even bothered to contact, let alone respond. Of course not. “Yeah. They’ve always been busy.”

But he knew the truth. They were glad he was gone, out of their hair. No more embarrassment when the Queen didn’t hold them responsible for what he’d done. Good riddance, they’d all say. He could just hear them now. He was sure there had to have been some sort of celebration of his failure.

He eventually took the bite and said nothing else. But he was sure he couldn’t manage to take another.

They never needed him. The thirteenth son? Ha! Worthless. Cursed. Why even bother?

Hans may have been gripping his fork a bit too hard. If it weren’t for his gloves his knuckles would have shown white.

-

Anna tried to ignore it- because at first she’d thought he just agreed with her, and that was that- but when she looked up again, she felt more than saw the tension in his body. She swallowed her last bite of food, set her utensils down, and cleared her throat.

"Hans." she said with a smile on, a smile that was trying to put things back to normal. "Before we practice-" she didn’t want to know what would happen if he were in a tense state worse than usual and then she asked him to start playing with fire. "Maybe we can go - um -" anything, Anna, anything! The gardens, the painting room, the- "Play a game of chess!"

_You don’t know how to play chess._

_-_

He set his fork down and glanced back up when she said his name. The smile was a tiny comfort, even if he didn’t outwardly admit it. “You never gave me the impression you would play that sort of game.”

But there was still a lot about Anna he didn’t know, either. As much as she spilled her heart out at him when they first met. Yet, he was still pretty sure she didn’t know how to play _that_. He used to play it with one of the servants whenever he could convince them, but it wasn’t very often.

…and playing it by yourself was maddening. Thinking like two different people, ha. He wasn’t exactly the perfect picture of mental health anyway, he supposed.

"But it sounds like a good enough idea."

-

"Well, psh, of course! Of course I do. Could play it with my eyes closed." Anna laughed, high-pitched and oh, damn, she was really bad a lying. "Right, so- so let’s go! Game on and … stuff." awkwardly, she stood from the table and began to make her way to the library, which is exactly where she remembered the chess set being.

_Don’t panic, don’t panic! He’ll sense it! Just- it can’t be that hard, right? Move some stuff around the board in the same way he does. No problem._

_-_

"Oh, _really_?” Hans could tell right then that she was bluffing so very hard, but he wouldn’t dare point it out until she admitted it. So he followed her out to the library and looked over at the chess board.

"Black or white?" He asked casually, waiting for her to choose which side of the table she’d be playing on, ready to move either chair for her.

-

"Oh, I prefer pur-" she stopped, looking down at the chess set, and her cheeks positively burned. "Wh….white." she said slowly, approaching the proper side and trying not to look so totally ashamed of her slip-up.

"You know, I ah, haha, it’s certainly been a while, for me! I used to play all the time- but- you know, with Elsa and the snow and all of that- stuff-"

-

"Uh-huh," Hans hummed along, helping her sit before he turned to his side and sat down. He stared down at the chess pieces and smiled ever so politely. "I’ll go first, then."

And with that, he moved one of the black pawns, watching her carefully. He knew it wouldn’t be long until she actually slipped up, but he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she wouldn’t need to be taught how to play.

-

Anna looked a little dumbly at the chess board- and literally mimicked his move. She was trying her best to figure out how this would all work- she knew you could only move on specific colors, and- that the further back on the board it was, the more valuable the piece. Beyond that, she was lost.

She worried her lip between her teeth, and waited with baited breath for his next move, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get away with just copy-catting all afternoon.

-

Hans raised an eyebrow at her. He was trying his hardest not to laugh. He really was. He knew her bluff right when she let him go first. He rested his chin in one hand while the other twirled a finger thoughtfully. Moving another pawn. He wasn’t even trying at this point, he was just _waiting_. Hiding his little smirk behind his hand as best he could.

"Not a bad move, Anna, but what else do you have up your sleeve?"

-

There were so few things she understood, and again, she moved a pawn- she tried to make it seem as though she knew what the hell was going on, but frankly, she was totally lost. She could tell that it was becoming obvious, it took her  _far_ too long to finally place her piece down. She was going to have to come clean, and that thought just wrecked her from the inside out.

Smug little jerk. With his smug little face.

-

Hans sat back and shook his head, bringing one of his moved pawns forward. Just how long was she going to pretend, hm? He was far better at that. And she looked ready to confess, too. He looked at her expectantly.

"You’re an open book, you know," he said casually. 

-

Deflating, Anna just put her hands over her face and let out a groan of epic proportions. She sighed and let her hands slide down again, wrinkling her nose and squinting at him. “So honest, and true, and real- yeah, I know, you told me once.”  _That one time when you made my whole life seem like a fairytale._

"No, Hans, I don’t  _actually_ know how to play chess. I don’t know anything at all.” she finally grumbled, crossing her arms and sinking in her chair with a childish pout. 

-

Hans’ smile faltered a little at the memory before he cleared his throat and brushed it off. “I sort of knew that the moment we started playing. White always goes first, Anna.” He picked up the black king and rolled it against his fingers for a moment. “I can teach you how to actually play it, if you want. Unless this sort of thing bores you.”

He placed the piece back while watching her pout.

-

Raising a brow, she slowly sat up, and relaxed her posture again, looking down at the board, then up at him. Hell, why not? He offered! Maybe he even liked doing it.

"I should- probably at least know the basics. So- yeah." she leans forward, rubs her hands together, and looks to him with determination and eagerness. "Teach me."

-

Hans didn’t mind teaching her at all. It helped keep his mind off a lot of darker thoughts and while he gave her the basics and showed her the tricks and mistakes to watch out for, it looked like both of them lost track of time.

They’d been in the library for quite a few hours and finally sat down to play a real game until the clock chimed for noon and lunch. Hans tapped fingers on the table before he glanced up from the board, actually stuck this time around. He looked back at Anna.

"Shall we?" Ah, yes, smooth. Escape his fate of actually losing.

-

"I  _suppose_ so, since I think I’m winning here.” Anna smirked, and stood up, stretching. “Whoa, we’ve been in here a long time…” she looked up and began to move toward the door. “I’m even a little bit hungry. Huh. It’s not much past noon…” 

-

Hans rolled his eyes as he stood up. “I was going easy on you, being a new player and all,” he said with a tease while he glanced towards the door. He wondered if he would still practice today. This was honestly the longest he’d spent with Anna in a day, he realized. 

He shrugged the thought away and walked with her. “I should probably eat in my room since you’ll be with the queen, right?” He cleared his throat. He wasn’t hungry at all, not really, and he wasn’t sure if he could make himself eat in front of her again.

But perhaps they would finally practice later, with the fire. 

-

"Oh, yes. That’s true. I’ll come fetch you afterward so we can practice." Anna smiled jovially, and turned to alter her course for the dungeons. She was told time and time again that she could just have the men escort him down, but she preferred to do it herself.

"I…" there’s a bit of hesitation, as they get nearer to the cell. "I don’t mean to upset you- by asking this- I really just…was thinking about it for a while. Do you…have any idea, what sparked your - er - transformation, before?"

-

As he followed her, he kept his hands back behind him again, glancing over at the princess when she started to nervously ask him something. His brows furrowed when she mentioned the transformation and he stopped his walk to pause and think about it.

"No. I don’t. Not really. It just happened."

Maybe somewhere deep down he knew what caused it, but right now he was a bit oblivious. “And it never happened before, either.”

-

Anna stopped, too, just a step or two in front of him, and turned her body to watch his expression shift.

"Hm." she blinked, tilting her head- one way, then another- and furrowing her brows at him. "Are you certain? You didn’t …  _feel_ anything differently?” not ‘feel anything different’- feel anything different _ly_. Anna was very aware that Elsa’s magic was drawn from her emotions, and that’s why it was impossible to control, it was far more about inner demons than exterior power.

-

Other than an increase of self loathing and hatred at anything and everything at the time, including himself? He couldn’t exactly say that out loud. He simply frowned at Anna before staring on ahead at his cell.

"Maybe. I suppose I was in a bad place emotionally." He shrugged it off and went to walk past her. He didn’t want to get into it.

-

"Ah." Anna just nodded, knowing better than to question him about it right now- maybe later.

"Right! Well." they arrived at his cell much quicker than she thought they would. It seemed to get closer to them every time she took him to it. "I’ll see you quite shortly, I don’t really take a long time to eat." she shrugged, and began to leave. 


	10. Soot and Ash

Lunch was over lightning quick for Anna’s usual timing. Elsa barely got to talk to her before she was excusing herself to re-dress in her cloak and get her mittens, and by the time that was over, only an hour had passed. She rushed to the dungeons, excited to see Hans practice again, and gestured for him to come out of the cell. “Ready to go?”

-

When Hans’ food arrived, he simply poked at his plate and might have actually…turned some of it to ash to look like he’d actually eaten some before he slipped his glove back on just in time for Anna to come in and greet him.

He stood and and gave a small bow. “Of course.” Hans decided to even offer his arm for her to take this time, to at least show he was…improving. Whether he really was or not, was up for debate.

-

Anna was pleasantly surprised- and a little pink even dusted her cheeks. She took his arm and allowed him to walk her down the corridors this time. He…really must be improving. Even if only by a slight bit. “You know, Elsa- I think she’s warming up to the idea of you actually making some progress in the right direction.” she admits, biting her lip a bit and staring down at their shoes as they walked.

"Before, she was really pretty upset with me- which- I guess I can’t blame her for- but lately she’s a lot calmer."

-

Hans listened while Anna brought up Elsa, a bit apprehensive of the topic at first but he was surprised by what she had to say. He wondered if all of that was really true.  What if he had a chance to write his wrongs - at least help people to forget them, focus on the good.

Maybe then he could -

After all, Anna was still in love with him. If he just played his cards right…

And if he dealt a bad hand, what then? He doubted Anna could recover from that sort of betrayal. He still wasn’t sure if he actually had feelings for her at all. He didn’t understand love, not real love.

Worry etched on his face as they came towards the practice room and the doors were opened for them. He realized he hadn’t said anything and was probably giving off a bad impression. So he shook off the serious look and went to smiling again. “That’s reassuring to hear. I don’t want to make her feel like she made a bad decision sparing my life.” He freed his arm to step into the room, glancing back as the guards shut the door once they were inside.

"I, um, have a small confession to make, though." 

-

"A small confession?" Anna blinked, tilting her head and waiting for him to continue. "What is it, Hans?"

Part of her feared that this was when he struck her down and made another break for it- but a much larger part of her had faith that it was a genuine confession and not a way to ruin everything.

-

"I’ve been practicing outside this room as well." He slipped off a glove, staring down at his hand. "Which I know was risky, but I kept thinking back on what happened in here last and I didn’t want a repeat." He curled his fingers into his palm, taking in a breath and letting it out slowly before he opened them again to release small lively forms of fire into the air - reminiscent of butterflies.

Thinking of the far more gentle aspects of fire helped him with that. But he was still tired from spending most of last night practicing that they didn’t stay long until turning into wisps of smoke.

"It’s a…start."

-

Anna gasped with delight and clasped her mittens together tightly in front of her chest, eyes bright. “Hans! That’s wonderful!” she grinned, practically jumping in place. “I think it’s good that you’re practicing outside our little sessions, since- since maybe you do better alone.”

Something struck her heart, hard, at saying those words, and she knew they were wrong.

"But in any case, that’s so lovely! Whatever you’re doing, it’s working."

-

He had to agree with her there. It was safer, better, for him to practice alone. Like he had when he was younger, before they…

Hans shook that thought away and he smiled back at Anna. “I’m glad you like it.” Perhaps it was time to try the bird again. But with Anna in the room - if he let himself be ruled by fear, nothing would get done.

So he removed his other glove and focused. Letting go of his apprehension and self doubt for the moment. Hands raised high when the flames began to form over his open palms to begin forming in the shape of a bird of fire, smaller than the first one had been.

As long as he stayed calm, he let it flutter down to perch on his arm. And surprisingly, the cloth didn’t catch fire. Still, Hans looked extremely surprised.

"It worked! I didn’t actually think it would." They’d all been so small in the cell.

-

Anna had her small hands covering her mouth, and she looked on in awe at the sight before her. It was truly spectacular- the bird was alight with flame, and it settled so sweetly on Hans’ arm that, were it not made of fire, Anna would have liked to reach out and touch it. “Hans!” she breathed, both hands coming down after a moment. “That’s so wonderful! I’m so proud of you!” not that he needed it, but- well- she thought it was important to state.

"It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen something so-" she struggled for words. Ice sculptures and snowflakes and ice palaces were gorgeous, sure, but things made of fire were poetically perfect. They were relics of envy- fire was dangerous and quick to evaporate into the air, but to see it keep a shape this way was incredible, and Anna made no effort to hide how impressed she felt.

-

Hans was temporarily fixated on it, running fingers over the flame-feathers as the bird trilled it’s affection. Then both seemed to turn at the same time to look at Anna. He might have turned a bit colorful in the cheeks before he focused again and let the bird fly into the air until it turned into a wisp of smoke. 

"Um, yes…they are rather…" Hm. Hans struggled on really saying anything truly positive about it. His doubts still lingered and he folded his arms. "I should work on something else that doesn’t involve animals made of fire."

But the only thing he could think his fire capable of doing is burn things. Burn them away. Even those fiery animals, while pretty, held great destruction. He glanced down when the room started to feel hotter again, at the cracks of stone beneath him that lit up, ready to flare around his feet.

A nightmare - no - a painful memory resurfacing. When the whole floor had turned to fire when he was very young. The first day his life quite literally, turned into hell. 

"I think - I think we should call it a day," Hans said hurriedly, taking a step back and going for his gloves.

-

Anna looked - well, she didn’t even look alarmed. She just sort of stared at the floor around his feet, and thought fast. If Hans’ powers were focused on emotion- he had to think of positive things over negative. So instead of caving, Anna cleared her throat.

"Are you familiar with the recent history of Arendelle?" she said, thinking perhaps she had just the thing to calm him, make him remember that fire had more uses than just destruction. "There was a pretty awful winter, about ten or so years ago- not as bad as, uh, Elsa’s, but- anyway, everyone in town was suffering. Our supply of wood dwindled, there was almost nothing left-" she tried to hurry it all along, recall the memories with her parents. "It was Christmas, and it still wasn’t any better- we used to have a big celebration in the town square, but nobody wanted to go outside- so we built a fire. A huge fire! It lasted for a whole day, and it kept everyone warm- people would look out their windows, and know that the fire was still going, so that meant they could still do things like- like heat soup, or see neighbors. We exchanged gifts over that fire, we got to know so many people in the Kingdom that way." her eyes sort of glassed over. "Every year we have a big fire in the middle of the square on Christmas, just to bring everyone together- it’s always a huge success."

Maybe…that would work. It was a true story, and Anna did cherish the memory of a blazing fire keeping the people of the Kingodm warm and happy.

-

As Hans slipped on his gloves and tried to step away from the small molten cracks in the floor, he paused and stopped to give Anna an exasperated look. Now wasn’t the time for  _stories_. But he listened begrudgingly. One hand still firmly gripping his wrist on reflex while he took in a breath to try to relax. And not look down at his feet.

Ignore it and it might just go away. Like the few brothers that ignored him completely.  But Anna’s story was getting through slowly. A large enough fire to keep the people warm. That was good - but what if it had spread? Even if it hadn’t, there was always that possibility. 

He swallowed back the thought and looked down at his hands. 

Every  _year_  they do that? And still nothing went wrong with the fire? It was almost too hard to believe. A large fire like that, so easily contained and safe.

But he wanted to believe it. A part of him wanted to be that fire. For once. 

The cracks reverted where he stood. 

"Thank you, Anna."

-

Anna looked- and yep, the cracks receded. She beamed, and practically leaped forward- hugging his arm with delight, not even thinking about it.

"I’m so glad it worked!" she cried, "I love that story, I’m so happy it could help." a beat, as she realized, through her giddiness, that she was clinging to his arm. She slowly pulled back, face as bright as his flames had been, and desperately avoided his eyes. "I- I’m so sorry, I just-uh-er-"

-

_Good job._

Hans looked relatively surprised when she grabbed for his arm and laughed a little nervously and cleared his throat, straightening up after she let go. “No, no, it’s, uh, it’s fine.” 

He kept his smile up, though. The floor wasn’t up in flames, so that was a relief. “But…um, could I ask you a small favor?” Hans looked at her with all seriousness now, hands back behind him.

-

"A favor- oh! A favor, yes, anything. What is it?" she asked, a little too hurried to put the incident behind her. She wondered if she’d ever, ever let that go- no, more than likely she’d revisit the moment in her mind and be humiliated for years.

Oh well. It wasn’t like he didn’t know she felt something for him.

-

"Well-" She looked so happy. And this was probably going to hurt her in some way, even if he meant well at the moment. He just didn’t want an accident, one he wouldn’t be able to stop if he lost control.

"When I decide to practice on the more, er, dangerous part of this - I’d like it if you would stay out of the room. Completely." 

-

Anna paused.

Stay…out of the room. Stay out of the room?  
 _Completely._

Stay out of the room, completely. She said the words again and again in her head, but they didn’t get any easier to hear. “I - yeah! Of course. That’s probably for the best, I’m sure of it.” she sounded overly confident, to the point of obviously faking it. Anna was never the actress she wanted to be. “You need better concentration, and you definitely can’t have that with me around. I’m wayyyy too loud for that.” she laughed, and it was painfully forced.

"Well, that’s fine, then- I can even go now! I’ll just be outside the door, to take you back to your room, whenever you’re ready. Okay? Okay! Good. Right. Well! Good job, Hans, you really are doing great. I believe in you!" 

She all but stumbled over her own feet to leave. She did not give him the chance to speak. She pressed her back against the door when it shut, and took a hard, deep breath.

What if he lost control of it? What if he hurt  _himself_? What if he started getting upset again, like just a little bit ago, and it didn’t stop? He couldn’t just give up in those moments, like he was going to, but then again, he did have to learn how to right himself on his own- Anna was painfully conflicted.

 _He knows what’s best right now. It’s probably just too dangerous. I know everyone worries about me getting hurt, but jeeze, after freezing to death and coming back to life, and forcing a dragon to return to a man, don’t you think they’d calm down?_  

Apparently, not.

-

Hans had wanted to say something to try to make his request sound less, well, hurtful, but she was all about talking and he closed his mouth as he watched her head out the door in her clumsy way.

When it shut, he sighed and lowered his hand, shaking his head. This was for the best, though. He needed to learn the extent of his powers and to do that in a safe enough environment, it had to be without another person present. Anna wasn’t completely fire proof, after all.

So when he was alone and he removed his gloves again, he stared down at his hands and watched the flames hover and soon up into the air like floating lanterns. With enough light in the room, he tried to think.

Elsa could make an entire ice castle. Could he solidify his own powers like that? But what could - lava. But that was a step too far just yet. He needed to start small. So Hans paced the room, leaving small cracks of thin molten heat behind in his walk. And that was when an idea struck. 

He knelt down, touched the heated floor and watched it crumble under his touch and spit out lava as if they were standing on the top of a volcano. He looked startled at first, but it soon turned into a smirk when he pulled it out and used his hands to shape and mold it. Turning it into a sword of hard obsidian rock.

He picked it up, curling his fingers around the hilt and giving a practice swing. Been a month or more since he held a sword. The more he thought about it, the easier it would be to escape this castle. But - then what? Where would he go? Hans took in a breath and sighed before walking over to the window to peer outside. His brows furrowed and he turned around, stepping his foot hard onto the ground to create the harsh steam and flames he was so careful to keep contained. Right now he needed to let it out, and he swung the sharp edges of the obsidian sword to cut through the flames.

Practice. Practice. Tame the fire. He wondered if he could really contain it all in this room, though. How far could he make this spread? Was Anna really  _safe_? Maybe a little bit of magma peaked from the cracks of the door.

-

It was a long, long time.

Anna became fidgety. She felt the door grow warm, then hot to the touch, and heat radiated out from the cracks at an alarming rate. After a while, the hallway was filled with heat, and the guards were sweating up a storm. Anna had requested her dinner brought there, on the ground, sitting opposite the door Hans was still behind. She ate her food and chatted with them for company, watching as they switched shifts- learning about them more than she ever had before. That was nice.

But soon she grew weary, and requested the Lindworm Prince to be brought to her again. She read it sixteen times over, and upon the seventeenth, she found her head pillowed in the pages, next to a picture of the Prince at the end of the story, with one hand over half of it as though reaching out for him. She was asleep, curled up in the thick fireproof coat and wildly uncomfortable, but obviously not enough to stir.

Plenty of times the guards had offered to escort him down themselves, but Anna had insisted, and now there she was in the dead of night, fast asleep, waiting for him.

-

Hans was surrounded by heat. It was everywhere in the room and he barely broke out in a sweat. It wouldn’t even stay on his body long enough to form. Just burn away. And he knew that was dangerous. But he kept practicing. To learn how to put out fires as large as this.

It was important. The floor was erupting. But finally, finally, as the sun went down and the only light remaining in this room came from him, he settled with an inner calmness that had him lowering the flames bit by bit as he went to sit on the ground.

His clothes were burnt in places and he probably looked like he fell through a chimney, but he had finally found a sort of inner peace long enough to bring the fire down and stop. But his eyes shot open when he noticed the room was now pitch black. Oh. It was really, really late. 

Hans made a small flame in his hand, wincing at the sudden brightness before he scrambled to feel around for his gloves. They looked pretty scorched but he slipped one back on as he led himself to the door, knocking with a small cough of smoke. “Guards? Hello? I’m finished.”

He didn’t get an answer and for a moment he feared the worst. That he’d been locked in here. But he snuffed the flame out, pulled on his other glove and planned to yank the heavy doors open by the handles. If they were locked, then he’d panic.

-

Of course, they were.

But with a sharp clicking, the guards opened the doors and allowed Hans to walk out. A gruff, tall guard glared at him and spoke sharply, gesturing to Anna and whispering.

"The Princess has been  _waiting_ for you. All  _day. All evening._ " He snapped. "She wouldn’t let us take you. She took her dinner here. She’s doing a great deal for you, prisoner- with the atrocities you’ve committed, you’d think you’d remember to have some _courtesy_ for all the mercy she shows.”

Were Anna awake, that guard would not have gotten far in his speech, but she was (fitfully) asleep, and so he was able to make his case.

"I suggest you wake her." 

-

Hans winced when the doors were open and light was brought in. He covered his eyes a moment before focusing and bringing his hands down. As the guard snapped at him, he glowered back stubbornly for a moment, smoke coming out of his nose with a small rage but when he dared a small glance to Anna asleep on the floor, his anger dwindled there and his fists unclenched.

Wordlessly, he stepped over towards her and knelt down slowly, lifting a soot covered glove to her shoulder and gently shaking her. “Anna. Anna, I’ve finished for the day - er, evening.”  He was guilty of losing track. He hadn’t meant to and he never expected her to wait out her so long.

But he was glad she hadn’t stayed inside with him. He couldn’t have gotten that far by worrying about her. 

-

"Mnh..ghn…" Anna roused, blinking blearily, and when she heard Hans’ voice she turned toward it. "Oh…oh!" she yawned, pressing a palm to her eye and slowly sitting up. "Oh, good- how was it? Didjya do well?" she was slurring her words a little, dazed and drowsy even now.

"Gosh, what time is it…?"

"Two in the morning, your highness."

"Urhgh." she rubbed her palms over her face, and heaved a long sigh, standing up, but being a bit wobbly about it. 

-

Two - two in the morning? Hans stood up with a slight dizziness there. He never realized he had been there for  _that_  long. He swallowed thickly, mouth and throat dry. He was definitely dehydrated. If his soot filled clothes were any indication. 

But he helped support Anna when she was wobbling about tiredly. “You should head to bed, your highness. They can take me back.” He shrugged towards the guards, despite their irritated looks towards him.

-

"You numbskull, I slept on the ground so I could walk you back, do you really think I’m going to-" yawn. "Let them take you now? Please." she scoffed. "I- oh, gosh, you look-" she wasn’t really sure how to put it. He didn’t look horrible, but he did look like he’d been working hard.

"Please, fetch him some cool water, and leave a full loaf of bread in the cell while you’re there. Refresh the basin, too, it’s probably been dormant for too long." she instructed the nearest guard, and he simply nodded and left. Anna leaned a bit against his side, and shook her head. "I asked you, did you do well, Hans?"

-

Hans sighed and knew better than to argue. She was the princess after all. He looked himself over and tried to dust off some of the soot with a few coughs and glanced back up at Anna when she restated her question. 

"Uh, well," He glanced back behind the door and the rest of the hallway. Nothing looked like it melted or worse. "I suppose I did. Better than I thought I would. Perhaps I’ll show you some of what I learned tomorrow." The safer things at least. "Or should I say later  _today_ , given the time.”

-

"You don’t-" another yawn- " _Have_ to. I’d be content to do this.” she mumbles. “Just give me a bit of a warning, so I can bring pillows and stuff.” 

She stumbled a little as she tried to start walking forward toward the dungeons, and huffed. “My legs are asleep,” she whined, looking awkward as she attempted to shake them awake. She was far too sleepy for this, she desperately wanted to go straight to her bed- but more than that, she wanted to see Hans to sleep. The last thing she wanted was to know that he didn’t fall asleep to a pleasant goodnight, but a jab that one of her royal guard may make.

-

Hans watched her and went to offer her an arm before she’d trip over her own feet. “You don’t really have to see me to my room _either_.” He smiled a little.

He wouldn’t mind showing the few tricks he learned and keeping out the far more dangerous aspects from her. That was the point anyway, right?  The more he practiced on a healthy restraint on his powers, the better off he would be.

Hans, for a moment, would have offered to carry her to her own room if it wasn’t so largely inappropriate. He had to shake that thought away quickly, glad his face was dirtied with soot to hide the small tint in his cheeks. The hallway  _might_  have gotten a little hotter.

-

It did, and Anna noticed- but couldn’t think of why that would be. Maybe it was just residual magic coming from the room. She took his arm gratefully, and used it to support herself quite a bit.

"Mnh. You’re a mess." she giggled, using the edge of her cloak to lean over and wipe away some soot from his neck in a manner that could definitely be called affectionate. She was too exhausted to care. "I’m glad you got good things done. You look like you worked hard."

-

Hans eyed the cloak as she wiped some of the soot away. He worked on keeping calm, reserved. Proper despite looking like he’d been a chimney sweep for weeks. “Eheh, sort of happens when you play with fire, I guess,” he said before clearing his still dry throat. Looking forward to the water they would be bringing in shortly once he was inside. He really sounded raspy.

He smiled again while looking at Anna until he realized he was probably looking too long and they were already making down the steps to the dungeon. “Oh, uh, I’m truly sorry for making you wait so long. I didn’t even realize how long I had been in there. I guess I was sort of…meditating? If you could call it that.”

He wasn’t sure if he had even done _that_ right.

-

Anna just laughed a little and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Hans. I told you, I’m happy to do it.” 

After a few seconds of silence, they arrived at his cell at last. Anna moved inside after him, yawned, and went for the door once he had safely been delivered. “Goodnight Hans. I’ll see you later.”

Maybe it was her sleep-addled mind, but Anna had desperately wanted to kiss him goodnight there.  
She did not notice that she’d actually _done so_.  
Love did some crazy stuff to a person.

-

The kiss was short and sudden that he hadn’t any time to react, really, aside from staring wordlessly at her. The room was certainly a lot warmer than a few seconds ago and he awkwardly stepped back, nearly tripping over the water basin. “Uh, yes, good- goodnight, Princess Anna.”

She was sleep deprived. Relax. She probably wouldn’t even remember it later after she’s gone to sleep. Probably think she dreamed it. No need to get flustered and worked up, Hans.


	11. Roses and Thorns

Unfortunately, Anna did remember it.

And  _obsess_ over it.

"Oh my god," she breathed, even as she dressed herself that morning, "Oh my god, oh my god,  _why did I kiss him?_ " she hissed into the mirror, reaching up to fuss her hair into a twisting, braiding bun.

"I can’t  _believe you,_ Anna! He doesn’t feel the same way! You’re just here to - you’re just - here to calm him down when he freaks out so he doesn’t melt the whole castle down.” she dropped her hands to her sides, stared at her posture, frowned deeply.

"Someday you’ll stop being such a screw-up, but I guess yesterday wasn’t that day, huh?" 

Rubbing her hands over her face, she marched out of her room, to breakfast with a concerned Elsa- who she threw off the trail- and then went to Hans’ cell in the afternoon. Pretend it didn’t happen. Ignore it. 

"Good afternoon, Hans." She smiled, as she stepped inside his cell. Again. 

-

Hans hadn’t realized just how warn out his body actually was after all that training that once Anna was gone, he finally just collapsed on the bed and slept. When he had woken up, he found the water basin filled and soap, fresh clothes.

He had refreshed himself with some water to drink before he set about washing all the soot off him,  heating the water absently without thinking. It felt nice. He was relaxing up until he started hearing the  door open and then there was Anna. Eyes wide, he nearly tipped over with the basin. “A-Anna!”

Of course she hadn’t knocked - wasn’t like this had happened before.

-

“ _OH._ " Anna said, in quite the obnoxiously loud voice, spinning around and doing an immediate about-face, staring at the door. "Oh, oh  _god I am so sorry-_ " she had definitely  _definitely_ caught a glimpse of his chest, jeeze that guy must still have been working out or something-

_Now is SO NOT THE TIME, ANNA._

"I- I’ll come back!" she cried, pulling the door open only wide enough to fit her body out, and then shutting it and resting against it. The royal guard had just been about to burst in, too.

"No, no! No, it’s fine. He. He was-" she babbled stupidly, and the men just stood there, brows raised.

-

Hans watched her go, eyes still wide and brows up before he looked down at the water and realized it was boiling a bit. Deep breath, stay calm. It subsided and he removed himself and grabbed a towel to quickly dry off - which didn’t take long anyway with his body heat at the moment. 

He swiftly got dressed, slipping on his gloves, patting out the remaining soot from them before he straightened up and tried to rub the blush off his face. Get a hold of yourself, Hans. For goodness sake.

Eventually he turned back to the door and coughed into his fist. “I am appropriate now, your highness. You may come back in.”

-

There were a few silent moments, and then Anna came back inside. Deep breaths, deep breaths- oh, she can’t look him in the eye,  _she’s still bright red-_

"I’m so sorry, Hans, I- I didn’t- I need to start knocking," she swallowed, rubbing the back of her neck out of nerves and chewing on her lower lip out of habit. "God, I- well- haha, that’s-" ramble, ramble, stutter, ramble. Anna didn’t seem to know any other reaction at the moment. She was making things worse than they already were, but wasn’t that just so like her?

-

"It’s all right, uh, I should have told the guards ahead of time so they could have asked you to wait." Hans laughed a little nervously, hands clasped behind him as was his usual habit. "Did you sleep well?"

Still a bit guilty about that, making her wait so long. And he was still getting looks from the royal guards whenever he saw them, but what could he do? They all hated him no matter what.

-

"I - yes, I did." She cleared her throat. She did sleep really well, she was exhausted and uncomfortable on the floor, so the moment she went to bed, she passed out. In her clothes.

"I assume- I assume you did, as well." God, why was she so awkward? She hated being this awkward. She was awkward from the very moment she met Hans, in that stupid boat on the stupid docks and- oh, whatever happened to his horse, anyway? Shoot.

Was he talking?

-

As far as Hans knew, Sitron had been given to the queen’s guard to be used. He never found the moment to ask and felt it would be pointless anyway. The likelihood of ever seeing his faithful horse again, let alone riding him, wasn’t very strong.

He looked a little spaced in his own thoughts when Anna answered his question, thinking back on the sleep-addled kiss and finding his eyes sort of drifting there to her lips before he snapped out of it. “Oh - yes, I did. For once,” he half muttered before straightening. “So what are the plans for today, your highness?”

-

"Oh!" Thank god, she hadn’t missed anything. "Oh, I don’t know, I- I figured I could escort you back up to the practice room, if you wanted to keep that up." It would be horribly dull for her, but she’d endure it. She endured thirteen years of it, so it was honestly not much of a change. She wanted him to get a handle on his powers, she wanted him to do well, and to feel good.

If that meant not entertaining her for a few days…weeks….months? Then so be it.

She supposed.

-

"Um, all right-" Hans started before he reached a hand out and paused midway. "I was also thinking, as I said earlier, I can show you some of what I learned the last time. Before I work more on the, well, larger and more dangerous stuff when you’re out of the room. It can be like a warm up exercise."  

He offered a rather sheepish smile, never mind the pun.

-

"Well, sure, only- only if you’d like to, that is. You’re not obligated, you don’t need to prove that you’ve been working, I believe you." she smiled shyly, and moved for the door, opening it up.

"And I…never quite apologized to you," she says softly, clearing her throat- since they’re both already obviously uncomfortable, she might as well get this out of the way. "About- being so forward. With. With everything. It’s- not polite of me."

The kiss, the confession, the everything- Anna was beginning to realize it might seem pushy, especially when he was not showing any kind of signal, positive or negative.

-

"Anna-" he tried to interrupt her but she was still talking and trying to apologize. "Anna, it’s -" he reached out to take one of her mitten covered hands in his. "It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Really." Hans offered the best smile he could muster before he let go of her hand. Knowing he’d been a bit bold there. Glad the guards weren’t always literally watching. 

He had to remember he wasn’t a prince anymore. There were boundaries, even if Anna often broke them herself. “It would be my pleasure to show you what I’ve accomplished so far,” he added in a more professional tone. Hoping the room didn’t feel as hot as he did right then.

-

Anna swore that her heartbeat was audible just then, when he took her hand and stopped her. It was easy for her to forget, too, that he wasn’t a Prince anymore. She almost wished she could give that back to him.

…Not by means of  _marriage!_ Just by means of…title? But for that to happen, his family would have to reinstate him, and Anna doubted they were going to do that. They still had not written back, and Elsa was on letter number three.

She smiled sheepishly at him, and sort of- well, wished she could take his hand again, even if her own was covered up by mittens. She knew as well as him, however, that the guards weren’t going to go for that, and so she simply nodded at his words and kept walking.

"You know, it’s really crazy, being surrounded by so much magic!" Anna seemed to return to a far more relaxed state. Even if she still wasn’t sure how Hans  _felt_ about things, at least it wasn’t…bad. “I mean, Elsa with her whole-” Anna makes a bunch of whooshing noises and emphatically gestures with her hands to imitate Elsa creating something of snow. “And now you, with the whole-” more whooshing sounds, a bunch of powerful gestures. In the end she throws her arms up and shakes her head. “It’s nuts! What’s next, I suddenly find out I’m some kind of- uh- princess of wind?” she wrinkled her nose. There weren’t a lot more elements to choose from.

-

Hans raised an eyebrow at the mention of magic and her little…display. He smirked a little bit before shaking his head. “I don’t think it works like that, Anna. If you were, it’d show itself long before now.” Still, he was briefly amused before glancing at the door again. “Shall we?”

Maybe he was a bit excited to show her what he could do now. A part of him becoming proud of it, and he wasn’t sure if that was really good - but it felt good. He felt better. And that was how it should be right? 

He wondered if he could ever ask Elsa about how she felt about her powers now. Perhaps he’d ask Anna for a request sometime soon, but not now. Too soon, probably.

-

"We shall." Anna grins, pushing the door open and stepping inside. The guards took their prior positions around the exterior, and waited with stone faces for their next command. She had to admit, despite their attitudes sometimes, they were very dedicated men.

She thought about magic, quite a bit now that it was all around her. A very large, loud part of her, late at night when she lay in bed, was jealous. While Elsa and Hans struggled with their powers, Anna couldn’t help but feel she’d be better off with some of her own. What she would do if she had magic at her disposal! She’d never be bored again, she’d feel level with Hans and Elsa at last, she’d feel special, and not…ordinary.

Not a spare.

But of course, it wasn’t like that, and Anna recognized her position in this weird castle full of oddities was to be the normal one. To ground them when they needed it. Even Elsa sometimes faced a loss of control in the face of emotions resurfacing, and Anna rushed to that rescue every time. So she could content herself with this, for the moment, and ignore the rush of longing she felt when these people she cared for did incredible things.

-

Hans walked with her to the practice room, glancing around the hallway at some of the scorched parts of the walls. A small guilty look there. Hopefully it’d be properly covered up. Nothing a new paint job couldn’t fix, right?  He let out a breath when the doors were open and they stepped into the room.

It still smelled like smoke. Even if they’d aired it out. His presence was marked in these walls. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. When the doors were shut, he wordlessly pulled off his gloves. Still a bit hesitant even now as he set them down.

"Ready?" he turned to face Anna.

"Ready!" Anna beamed, clasping her mittens together in front of herself and staring eagerly at him in her preferred corner of the room. She would have liked to be closer, but he seemed a lot more at ease the further away she was- which was understandable. Still, Anna was never once afraid of Hans, or his capabilities, despite logic saying she should be.

Eager to see what he had to show her, she kept her mind focused on one train of thought as best she ever could.

-

Hans smiled back and let himself relax a little bit more. It was going to be all right. So long as he believed it would. No time for doubt. So when he let it out, the flames flew up to hover above the ceiling to light up the room in its fullness. A warm glow above them both. 

He took in another breath. “You may come closer, your highness. This would be better seen up close - but not  _too_  too close, you know…heh..”

-

"Oh! Oh, alright." Anna seemed surprised, but delighted, and slowly approached, looking upward at the flames hovering- gosh, they were pretty. Fire was gorgeous. Anna had always found some magic in the elements of nature- obviously, mostly snow, but fire, and water, and all of the things that made up the earth- they were magical in their own right. That a human being could produce and shape them was even more thrilling and naturally becoming to her.

-

All right, good. He focused and delicately moved his hands around to create a shape hovering between with flecks of ember golds and reds until a flame in the shape of a rose but as the embers swirled around it the shape began to solidity into a firm, red rose made of crystal. With the element of fire and a bit of sand and magic - well, there was quite a lot to fashion out of it. 

Hans caught it swiftly before it fell and held it by it’s stem, holding it out for her to take. He kept his hand as steady as possible, still a great bit nervous as much as he was trying to hide it. He hoped the flames above them were colorful enough to hide his own color.

He still wasn’t sure if this was the kind of love he was used to being told of, but he knew he had grown to respect Anna throughout this whole trial he’d been put under. And he wanted to repay her kindness somehow. Gifts weren’t exactly easy when one was a prisoner in a castle.

-

Anna felt her heart stop.

It just  _stopped_.  
It felt like someone dropped her from the top of a high tower and caught her just before she hit the bottom. It stopped and it was lodged in her throat, and what was she supposed to say? No words would thank him the way she wanted to express it. With slow, cautious hands, she took the rose. It did not crumble. It was a bright, gorgeous red, and her eyes went from the petals to his face.

 _A red rose. Love, respect._  
  
The language of flowers. It had started there, in the garden, hadn’t it? It felt like forever ago. And now, with Hans standing there and giving her this gift- so simple, but the most beautiful treasure she’d ever received- her stopped heart began to swell inside her throat, and every fiber of her being had only two words to say:

_Kiss him._

So she did. She pushed herself forward and, right hand still clutching the rose, used her left to set on his chest, kissing his lips with a peculiar note. It was passionate, but very, very chaste, the kind of kiss that wants to be more but knows it can’t, the kind of kiss that isn’t planned and doesn’t mind if it isn’t reciprocated, for it is pleasant and right. 

So there, under his fire and immersed in the heat of a moment rather than the heat of any ember, Anna had finally given in, given up. It was shown in action as well as word, now, that she loved him, and with those two combined, it was officially his turn. 

-

Hans’ hands seemed to be frozen in place, much like the rest of him, when she’d leaned up and kissed him. Feeling her hand on his chest, where he wondered if she could feel how hard it was beating. He looked worried, uncertain for a long moment before he let his eyes close and accept it. 

He did something he would have never thought he’d let himself do in a long time. Lifting a hand and delicately touching Anna’s cheek. His own skin against hers. No gloves, no secret mockery. She was warm, but in a very different way. Soft. He knew his hand was far warmer than it should be, but he wouldn’t hurt her, couldn’t. Not now.

When he dared to open his eyes again and pull back from the kiss, he watched the flames reflect in her hair. Like she was a part of them too. He was wordless for a long moment and then winced as he noticed the lights above them grew brighter. “Oh, sorry, hold on-” he let them dim, probably reacting to the intensity of emotion in the room he was trying to keep a lid on. His hand left her face and rested on hers still on his chest with a small laugh.

"I…guess that means you like it, right?" He offered a sheepish smile.

-

Anna was  _glowing._

 _  
_ It was the glow of a woman who had been denied what she loved for so long, the glow Elsa had when she was allowed to let everything go on the North Mountain, the glow Hans must have radiated when he was allowed to be in that practice room on his own. Anna was glowing because she was being allowed to love openly. It was the only magic she possessed, and having been denied that, she was not nearly so radiant as she was right then. Of course, the combination of the fire and the way it bounced the light probably helped, but Anna’s glow came from within, and wasn’t really a manifested thing so much as a weight in the air, a spark in her eye.

She nodded, and looked down to his hand over her own, and longed to kiss him again, and again, and again, because it had been the best kiss- but she would be happy with what she got, she decided. She swallowed her words that asked for more, and looked down at the rose again. “It’s amazing, Hans. Thank you.”

_You’re amazing, and I’m so proud of you._

_-_

Hans saw the glow, enough to know what it was, what it meant. He finally let go of her hand though and stepped back again. “I’m the one who should be thanking you. But I’m glad you like it.” He pressed his hands together and let out a breath. “But there’s one more thing I should show you, and I recommend putting that piece somewhere safe.”

He was a bit more nervous about this part. Not sure how well she’d react to it. How the guards outside would react to it. But in his head he thought it would be...fun, maybe? For the both of him? Sometimes it wasn’t just Anna who had a naive streak.

He just hoped it wouldn’t totally backfire on him - no pun intended.

Hans was still a tad flustered over the kiss.

-

Anna, ever curious, ever excited, nodded and placed the rose inside a pocket sewn into her cloak on the inner lining, looking at him with wonder. She was still sort of buzzing over having kissed him, having him  _kiss her back, god,_ and she tried her best to focus on the now instead of what happened a minute ago. 

It was hard. He had tasted like embers, and steam- he tasted like a summer day at the beach- he tasted like laughing with your face toward the sun- and Anna had craved the outdoors for so long, with a sister of ice giving her only a taste of the polar opposite.

But, yeah, she would try to put that out of her head for right now, and focus on what he had to show her.

-

Her attitude gave him hope, even if it was a bit foolish. But, really, weren’t they both foolish in their own ways? So Hans smiled and nodded, glancing down at the floor and his hands. “Okay. Okay, good.”

He closed his eyes and let himself feel the force under his hands, under his feet, as the cracks of molten heat showed itself and began to bubble a moment in front of him until it was pulled out with a motion of his hands until he shaped it, drawing the heat out of the lava to form the cooling obsidian stone. Sticking out of the stone looked to be the hilt of a sword.

Hans flexed his fingers and took a small step back, taking in another break. “Feel free to take it, your highness.” He smirked a bit. “I figure you might like some kind of training yourself.” 

-

Anna had to actually put both hands over her mouth to stop herself from inhaling too loudly, she was nervous for making him nervous. She could barely contain her enthusiasm- seeing Hans do amazing things with fire was crazy. She stared fixedly at the sword and before he could even finish his sentence about training, she was leaping toward it like a puppy.

"OhmygodthisisincredibleHans!" she cried, and, jumping in place, had to wait a moment before actually touching the sword. She pulled it out with no fear, no hesitation, and held it in her hand, weighing it. "Oh, it’s so pretty, too- I-" she shook her head, and turned it over in both hands a few times.

Never once did it occur to her that he could fashion weapons to  _escape_ with. She just smiled and wanted to embrace him again. Her sister might have been nervous, the guards would have been furious, but Anna? Anna was proud.

"Oh, but, I’m afraid I’m not very good with swords," she’d rather admit this than chess. "I don’t- think I even remember how to hold one. They tried to teach me, a few years ago, but-" she winced a little. "There had been an accident involving my instructor, and some rose bushes, and a bluebird…"

-

Well, he was certainly relieved she didn’t take the sword making as a bad omen. Although he hoped she’d keep it a secret for now. He knew others wouldn’t think it very good. Hans watched her pull it out and hold it, amused that yes, she certainly didn’t know quite how to hold one.

He made his way around her to stand behind, reaching arms out and placing his hands over hers to guide them properly on how to hold the hilt with a firm grip.

"I can teach you," Hans suggested, realizing he might have been leaning a bit too close, breath against her ear, and he let go with a nervous clear his throat before backing up some. "Although, it might be easier for you to hold it if you took off the mittens. I understand if you won’t, though."  He supposed this was his own kind of trust exercise. 

Test himself. Restraint and good will. 

-

Hans was indeed standing a little close.

Hans was behind her and touching her and it was  _almost_ like a hug, goddamn her stupid heavy cloak! She was already uncomfortably warm in it, and to have to wear it always was bothering her.  
She shook her head, and passed the sword from one hand to another as she took the mittens off and tossed them across the room with no regard at all for them. 

"Hans, we just  _kissed_ , why would I be worried that I couldn’t touch you?” she laughed, thinking of the logic in this. “I would love that. For you to teach me, I mean- teach me how to- the sword- not- anything else- er-” it was like meeting him for the first time all over again, stumbling through her words and never knowing how to say what she wanted. Damnit.

-

He watched her remove her mittens and wondered if that was a good idea. If any of this was a good idea. He was risking a lot here, with the little freedom he already had. But - but he could do this. So long as Anna trusted him enough. 

At the reminder of the kiss, Hans just laughed awkwardly in return, brushing his bangs back while Anna fumbled with her own words. “Right. I know what you mean - whoa, careful!” he quickly added, making sure she didn’t swing the sword and hit herself while she was waving her arm about. So he was behind her again, hand against hers around the hilt of the sword. Hoping his skin wasn’t too unbearably hot against hers. He was trying.

"Anyway - um, like I said," he mumbled some before helping her hold the sword in both hands again. "You hold it like this. That way you can put your whole force into it." He then helped nudge her feet to get her legs apart in the correct position. "Stand like so. Keep your weight balanced. Now we’re going to make a swing. Follow my movements slowly. Make sure you have the rhythm down before I let you swing on your own. Might even make you some targets to hack and slash at eventually," he chuckled.

He tried very hard not to notice how close his lips were to her neck. Swallowing thickly in his throat. “Ready?” He went to demonstrate by helping her swing with the guide of his own arms.

-

For Anna, his skin was warm, but pleasantly. In the way you’d want someone to be warm after coming in from the snow, in the way you’d want someone to be warm when you were climbing into bed on a particularly cold night- Hans, a little furnace for her when the winter came, waiting in bed for- 

ACK. SWORD. Sword! She had a sword in her hand! She was reminded of this when he told her to be careful, and her cheeks burned as she allowed him to right her wrongs and put her in position.

She should have thought better of this- she should have thought it through more. Hans was speaking but it was hard to hear everything over the roar of his lips fluttering breath against her neck, and the smooth, deep lilt to his voice she’d always really liked. She smiled when he chuckled about getting targets for her to practice, and the smile died into concentration as they finally tried a swing together.

It went well, mostly because it was really all Hans, but she was excited anyway. “Yes!” she grinned brightly. “That’s not so hard at all-” another try, it all goes pretty well. A third, and then at last she has the courage to say- “I think I can try it alone.”

And when she does, it all goes so  _well_ \- right until she smacks him in the nose with her elbow on the follow-through. Gasping and reaching out, the sword goes limp in her hand and she uses a different one to reach up and touch, concerned, where she hit.

"Oh, oh, I’m so  _sorry_!” This is not the first time. Damnit Anna.

-

All was looking good, she seemed to be getting the hang of it and while he had been hesitant to let go and let her swing on her own, he did anyway. Perhaps too soon, though, because Anna had eagerly started swinging already and when her elbow struck his nose, he staggered back and brought a hand up to touch it.

He heard Anna begin her apologies and watched her reach up to touch, but he lightly pressed his hand against hers while he laughed a little. “It’s all right. It’s not broken or anything.” 

Hans was fairly certain his nose was the most abused part of his body - especially when it came to Anna. Purposefully or not. He supposed some things never really changed.

"Let’s try that again, hm?" At a more respectable distance for himself, this time. He stepped back and offered a sincere smile, waving for her to continue practicing.

-

Anna sheepishly moved to try again- and with him out of the way a little, she was able to do as he instructed her, rather well, actually. It was only slightly odd, and the more she did it, the easier it became. 

"Hans," she finally said, in the middle of a swing, making absolutely  _sure_ she had it all down. “What’s something you’ve always wanted to learn?” 

Anna was tired of being taught. For once, she wanted to teach. She didn’t think of the way she was teaching him how to accept and return love, she wanted something tangible, like chess, and sword skills, and how to talk a dragon down from frightened to sleepy and then to man again.

She finished her swing, and was confident she had it, slowly lowering the sword and looking over at him for his answer.

-

Hans kept a careful eye on her swings, glad she was catching on so quickly already. Once he’d teach her the basics of sword fighting, maybe he’d feel more at ease around her. Knowing that - that if he -

If the dragon returned and she couldn’t change him back…that she could protect herself. Hans would rather it be here than just some nameless royal guard. And maybe that was selfish. Then again, he’d always been that way. He knew that.

He blinked and shook himself out of his dark thoughts when Anna was speaking. “Oh -” The former prince hesitated. “Well, I…I don’t know, really.” Not something he expected to be asked. Threw him for a bit of a loop. “I guess I haven’t played the piano in about ten years. I remember enjoying it.” Not the lessons, per say. And he’d always had to try it without gloves and keep the fire in. It hadn’t been easy. But now?

"I’ve probably forgotten a good bit of it."

Hans frowned some before he brushed that old memory away and smiled at Anna. “Looks like you’ve got the hang of it. Now let’s see how much of a mark you’ll leave behind with it.”

Stepping forward, he went to make a strong enough molten rock in the shape of a man. Or as close as one. Like one of those practice dummies in archery. “Don’t hold back.” 

He’d show her other methods of swinging later. They had all the time in the world, it felt like. But he didn’t want to tire her out. And it must be burning up in all she was wearing - and all the fire in the room. 

-

The piano!

The piano was all Anna had, really, when she wanted company of the musical sort. She swore, sometimes, that she could hear Elsa playing it in her room, and she’d try to memorize the notes, the tunes, so she could show her sister, when she came out, that they could play together.  
That never happened, and the duets in Anna’s head fizzled to the solos they would always be.

But Hans - Hans played! Maybe after a lesson tomorrow, she could take him to the music room. She thought too excitedly about her thoughts, and was only snapped to reality when the molten dummy was half out of the ground already. She couldn’t help but continue to be impressed.

Don’t hold back. Don’t hold back. Alright. She could do that.

Anna rarely let out aggression and anger. She didn’t have to keep it in as tightly as Elsa and Hans might have, but because she was such an optimistic young woman, her pain, her anger and frustration, all concentrated into a little ball that got shoved further and further back until she had the alone-time to deal with it and convince herself of something happier. A person couldn’t  _always_ be sunshine. Hans and Elsa had both learned this on their own, Anna having exploded at them before, but now? Now she was being told to go to town- so she did.

With timidity at first, she struck the dummy. But after some time, she was thinking of how it hurt for Hans to leave her on the floor. To tell her he was going to kill Elsa. How it hurt for Elsa never to once peek out and tell her the secret. How her childhood was spent in emptiness and yet,  _yet, she was still expected to be happy, to be optimistic, to find the joy in a life of empty rooms!_ She was the spring sister, the summer sister, the sister that laughed and the sister that loved parties, but she was always just _a sister,_  and she was only ever a princess when it was convenient for others to tell her so, and Elsa was so loved, so  _loved_ , they asked for her, even at the funeral they asked for  _Elsa, the future queen, the gorgeous queen of ice and snow and-_

Anna did not realize that, in her thoughts, she was hacking away at the molten figure with all the strength she had in her body, to the point where it began to  _crack_ , to the point where she didn’t realize she was  _crying_ and none of her shouts were intelligible, but they were clearly from a much darker place than she’d dared to explore before. Things began to get out of hand extraordinarily quickly, for the girl who had so much heart to share. Big happiness meant big sadness, and nothing was ever more true for Anna.

-

Hans wasn’t aware of what was going on at first. Arms folded while he continued to watch her, but the more she swung her sword and the less refined she became with it - her breathing, her posture, body language.

He knew something was wrong then, and he attempted to draw nearer, but he had to remember this was a woman with a sword in hand right now, taking out whatever darkness in her and hacking away. There was a strong chance she could turn on him - and then what?

Would he fight her? Let her cut him down? Heaven knew he deserved that. 

But here she was crying out her frustrations and he hadn’t meant for this to happen. Never would he have expected this reaction - no, no that was a lie.

If they were anything alike at all, he would understand why.

"Anna," he started quietly at first, sure she wouldn’t hear him yet as he drew closer. " _Anna_.” Hans wasn’t telling her to stop, not really. Just that she needed to catch herself before it consumed her. It was fine to let go, but losing yourself was too far.

Eventually he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her back to focus. Bring her back to the surface of the water. He knew what it was like to drown alone. 

And she’d reached to drag him out so many times already. Now it was his turn.

-

Anna certainly didn’t hear him the first time, as expected. Too many thoughts of that beautiful ice palace, and that beautiful dress, and her beautiful sister- but then there was a voice. Not Elsa’s, but Hans’, and after a few more violent ‘thwack’s of the sword, her shoulders fell. Her body relaxed, and the sword slipped from her hand a little bit as it rest by her side, chest heaving, cheeks wet, eyes puffy. She stared at the misshapen… _thing_ in front of her, no longer even resembling a dummy, and, frustrated, hot, exhausted, she reached up and wrenched the button of her cloak away, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thump. She was sweating, and still crying a little, and she could barely breathe. 

But the sword hit the ground and she was turning, pressing her face into Hans’ chest and clenching the back of his shirt with her hands. She was so  _tired_ , and she wanted everyone and everything in the world to just freeze, to stop. She’d never, even as a child, thrown a tantrum like this, and Hans seeing her so vulnerable might have been a dangerous idea.

But the woman was left alone in a brick cell with a dragon just a number of days ago.  
There wasn’t much else she could think of as genuinely dangerous. Right now, Hans felt safe, warm, solid- and she needed that.

-

When she went to remove her cloak, he lifted his hand and kept his guard until he heard the sword fall to the floor. And suddenly she was turned around and hid her face against his chest. 

Hans didn’t move for a long moment, before he brought his arms around to hold her in return. He was silent, letting her cry while his eyes locked on the chipped away stone dummy. Well, at least he knew she could hold her ground with a sword now. 

Perhaps the training for both of them should end here for the day. Or at least for right now. Hans brought a hand up to brush bangs from her face while he glanced back down at her. “Are you going to be all right?” he finally asked, keeping his voice soft.

-

Anna eventually did calm down, marginally, in his embrace. She slowly let her eyes wander up, tilting her face to better look at him. She probably looked and felt pretty gross, but- she couldn’t care. 

"I th-think so," she hiccupped, reaching up and pressing the heel of her palm into her eye. "I’m s-so-sorry, haha, I don’t- know what got into me-" oh, yes she did. They both did. "It won’t happen a-a-a-again." Probably.

She didn’t want him to let go. She wanted to stay the whole night, right there with him, holding her. She wanted to fall asleep against the wall and wake up and laugh at his stupid just-woke-up face, and-

"I didn’t hurt you, or- o-or anything, right? No accidental hits to the nose?" she tried to put on a smile for him, a little bit, looking up and inspecting the nose she’d hit earlier.

-

Hans gave a small smile and shook his head, rubbing her back. “No, my nose and everything is all in one piece. Can’t say for the  _other_  guy, though,” he teased lightly, shrugging over at the rock dummy. He gave a little snort at his own joke.

He’d offer a handkerchief for her, but he didn’t carry that sort of thing anymore, being in a dungeon and all. Hans did, however, help wipe some of the tears away with his thumb when she looked up at him. “I’m sorry this got you upset.”

Maybe it was good for her to have done it, though. They both knew what burying things in deep did to people.  Hans eventually gave her a more serious look, though. “Do you want to talk about it? We don’t  _have_  to - I won’t pressure you.”

-

Anna giggled at his joke, too, and it brought a watery smile to her face. He was every bit as charming as she remembered him, when he had been acting- so why did he act at all? He was perfectly fine, like this. A small voice wondered if he was still doing it. A louder voice shouted no.

Being asked if she wanted to talk about it…that was a heavy thing. Especially coming from Hans, for her. She did want to talk about it, in the stark opposite to him, never wanting to say anything, but she didn’t want to drive him away with too much. Then again, maybe she’d just be able to grow closer to him?

…He offered. So she’d take it.

"I’m just- it’s- a lot." she sighed, looking down and tracing the lines of a button with her eyes. "Being alone for, for a really long time- while I knew someone was around who used to love me, and keep me company, and be- be so close to me- and then…to be shut out- without any reason why, never getting any explanation, hoping every single day that this would be the day…she never once came from her room to see me. And when- when our parents died, you know, they came to the funeral- everyone, really- and asked about Elsa." Her jaw stiffens a little and she glares at that button.

"They said they were sorry for my loss, to have courage, to be strong- and then they asked about Elsa. I love her, I do, I just-" she squeezes her eyes shut. "She’s _perfect._ She’s got  _magic_ , Hans, and - and she’s gorgeous! She’s not awkward, she doesn’t fall over everything, and she’s…she’s the one everyone wants. People wouldn’t remember I existed if I didn’t love the outings and gatherings so much.” she didn’t voice much more detail, not sure how much Hans honestly wanted to know. She felt strange, finally telling someone the things she wouldn’t even allow herself to think for too long.

"Not to mention, pft, she’s  _beautiful._ And I’m just-” she searched, and then in an echo of something she said an eternity ago-

"It’s just  _me._ ”

-

Hans was willing to listen, keeping a steady hold on her as she spoke. He was reminded of coronation night, when they sat on the balcony and spoke of their family. Siblings. He hadn’t been lying then, but that was how he knew how to trick people. Throw in a bit of truth with the lies and anyone would believe it.

But there was no use lying or pretending now. There were no tricks here, and if Anna thought there were, he wouldn’t blame her. So when she ended with “it’s just me”, his brows creased as he looked at her. A striking sense of de ja vu. 

"Just you, huh? Let’s not forget who saved your sister, who was the real reason the summer returned." He lifted her chin, tilting his head some as he stared down at her. "I was so caught up trying to be the hero in my own head that you were right there the whole time, saving everyone."

From him, from Elsa’s lack of control, from an eternal winter.

“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. You are beautiful, Anna. There is a different beauty in you. You’re not Elsa. You will never be Elsa. But no one will ever be  _you_ , either. And that’s beauty.”

-

Anna wanted to bring up all the negativity in his points, but her heart just wasn’t in it. She wanted to say, ‘oh, a different beauty, so I’m not as pretty as her’, but she knew that wasn’t what he meant and she couldn’t bring herself to accuse him wrongly. She searched his eyes and what reflected back at her was such strong sincerity that it made he want to burst.  _He_ thought she was beautiful,  _he_ recognized her,  _he_ didn’t leave her alone. He may have gone back on his word so often before, but right now? Right now, he was doing exactly as he said he would, and that meant a lot.

Anna sniffled a little and ran her hands along his back, just lightly, just briefly. “You’re really something, you know,” she finally just sighs. “And I’d kiss you again, right now, if I wasn’t so sure that my clumsiness would ruin the moment  _somehow._ " She was always having her ‘moments’ ruined by her quirkiness. Just once she wanted a fairytale.

Oh, shoot, did she say he wanted to kiss him  _out loud? AUGH._

"I- I didn’t mean to say- say that out loud," she tittered nervously, eyes darting side to side for a frantic sweep of her words. But there was no denying it, she had  _said_  it, said that she’d kiss him right then. She only hoped she didn’t make him feel weird. They were having such a nice moment…

-

He raised an eyebrow at being called “something”. He couldn’t very well argue with that. At least she seemed to be a bit out of that dark mental space now. If he’d witnessed this months ago, he would have used it to his advantage. 

A lot  _had_  changed in such a short time.

Hans’s ears might have burned a little at the idea of them kissing again and he studied her face when she seemed to have caught herself saying it out loud.

Yes, a lot had changed. But not everything.

The former prince leaned down to simply press a brief kiss to her forehead. “It’s all right. Should we call it a day?” 

-

"Y-yes. Yes. Probably." Anna muttered, though she was loathe to. She didn’t move from his hold immediately, however, and instead just- stood there. It took her a little while to actually remove herself and begin picking up. She re-fastened her cloak (though while making a face about it) and then went about searching for her mittens.

"Jeeze, I really did a number on that thing!" she laughed, glancing sidelong at the dummy as she continued to search for the mittens she’d thrown off earlier.

-

Hans let her go and went to pick up his gloves to slip back on. He glanced up at the flames still hovering above them. Maybe he really was learning better control. He decided to leave the dummy there in the room, though. The flames would dissipate once they left.

Without him there willing them to float, they weren’t exactly going to last. Not with nothing to burn. “You certainly did. Means you’ve got a good arm.” And he would know  _all_  about that.  He crinkled his nose again to gently rub at it. Still a tiny but sore but he’d deal with it.

-

Anna gives a little bit of a sheepish grin to the floor as she finds her mittens and then checks her cloak pocket- sure enough, the rose is still there, still in-tact. She straightens herself out, and after a few minutes more, is ready to be presented back to the guards.

"How do I look? I mean, not like I’ve been crying or anything, right?" she asked, fidgeting in place and trying to press her fingers under her eyes to make sure no leftover moisture was ready to creep out.

-

Hans walked over to her to have a closer look, hands behind his back. Still an old habit even if he felt he had more control than he had before. That, and, well, he’d done a lot of touching when it came to Anna that day already. “You look fine. Can barely tell you’ve cried.” He gave her a reassuring smile before he decided to offer his arm after some thought. To give her a little support after her emotional outburst, even if it was over. 

"If you don’t want to do anymore sword practicing again, I understand."

-

Appreciating the gesture, Anna smiles broadly and shakes her head a little. “No, no. I’d really like to continue. Like I said, it won’t happen again.” Hopefully. “I’m pretty sure it was a one-time deal.” she approached the door, and when it opened, the guards were still at attention. They gave the joined arms a distasteful look, but, Anna hardly cared at all. She was enjoying herself.

"Tomorrow we’ll do it all again. Eat a big lunch." she smiled, giving him a wink. 

-

"If you’re sure, your highness," Hans said with a light enough smile, ignoring the leers from the guards. He was getting used to it enough by now not to be bothered. 

"I would very much enjoy that." His smile turned into more of a smirk at the wink she gave him and he held in a laugh as he walked with her back towards the dungeon which sadly felt more like home than his real room ever did in the Southern Isles.

-

Anna let the rest of the short walk remain silent, and just had a big smile on her face the entire time.

She shut the door behind her to wish Hans a good sleep, and found herself sort of lingering in a way that meant she didn’t want to leave.

"Well. I hope you sleep well, Hans. I- I’m really glad this is working out." she admitted. "I look forward to tomorrow."

What she would not do for a goodnight kiss. She was certain that the next time she would do that would not be so near in the future. She probably liked kissing him too much. 

-

Hans had been quietly staring at the dying flower in the glass of water he’d kept it in. It was going to happen eventually, but it was a sad sight to see. He couldn’t preserve something like that. Not a living thing. 

But the flower finally giving in to decay didn’t mean that Anna’s belief in him was dying, right? It didn’t rest on the existence of a silly flower. He glanced back over at her when she spoke, rubbing idly at his wrist before he shook off the bad thoughts with a warm enough smile.

"I’m glad too and also looking forward to tomorrow." They were just staring at each other, and he knew she was waiting for something, hoping for it. He didn’t know if what he was feeling was real, or just something he tried to hold onto because it was the only thing close to real love he’d felt since his mother. And even then -

Was he just using Anna again? In a different way? 

He didn’t let himself get closer. No more kisses this day. He needed time to think this over. “Enjoy the rest of your day, your highness,” he added before giving a light bow.

-

Anna found everything in her chest pleasantly tight, and she curtsied sweetly- maybe a little mocking of his formality- and took a glance at the flower. Yes, she had noticed it’s death- but she’d right that in the morning.

She left his cell, going straight to her room, and finding a proper place for the flower he’d given her. Beside her bed, on a small table, resting on its side.

She found her sleep incredibly peaceful. Her shoulders less tense, her eyelids heavier, she realized that her release of emotion earlier in the evening had probably been something that had been inevitable for a very long time. Years coming. She woke the next morning feeling nearly the best she’d felt since coronation day, and she sat through breakfast with her sister for a little longer than she usually did these days.

She attended to a few royal duties- they still existed, even for a princess- and went to the garden to pick a few passion flowers for Hans’ vase.  
Though they clashed in color, she took red roses, too. This time, remembering the … incident of the previous day, she knocked on the cell door and cleared her throat. “May I come in?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I realize there are a lot of tense-changes and stuff. I know it can be irksome, but it would take way too long to go through and fix it, so, I hope you can deal with it.


End file.
